*There is sexual content ahead, towards the end*

Two weeks after Carter's official 'coming out' scene, his routine hadn't changed all that much.

"Like, how am I supposed to know why the hell she's mad? She won't freaking tell me," Joey screeched in the locker room, as he got changed next to Carter and Seth. "If you don't know, then it's not even worth it," Joey mimicked in a mock high-pitched voice. "What the heck does that mean?" He scoffed at Carter.

He frowned, eyeing Seth before looking back at Joey. "You're asking me?"

Joey still had no idea just how bad of an idea it was to ask Carter for girl advice, at the moment.

Joey groaned at Carter's uselessness, turning to his other friend. "Seth?" He pleaded.

Seth just shrugged.

"You two are as useless as my girl. If I still even have a girlfriend! Women are so fucking complicated," he complained. "Does Bella ever pull this cryptic shit on you?" He asked Seth.

Seth smiled a little. "No. Bella is pretty good at letting me know exactly when she's mad and why she's mad."

Carter laughed. "She does have that side of communication pretty well figured out," he mused.

"She never gives you silent treatment for taking her to the wrong restaurant, even though she specifically said 'nah, babe, I don't care, you choose'?" Joey queried.

"Bella likes tacos, her father's food, minimal human contact, and the peace and quiet of her house or my car," Seth said.

Joey scoffed. "How did you manage to find the only uncomplicated girl out there, at first fucking try?"

Carter shook his head. "She's not the only one," he said. "You just have to stop looking with Jenna's cheerleader friends. Not even Jen likes them that much."

Joey's shoulders slouched in defeat. "Maybe you're right. I swear, if Carrie keeps expecting me to just read her fucking mind, this isn't working," he murmured.

"Still lasted more than your last," Seth remarked.

Joey didn't seem too proud of it, though. In fairness, his past relationship had been kind of a joke.

"You guys coming?" Joey asked, already moving toward the locker room door.

"In a second. We'll catch up with you," Carter said.

Seth didn't say anything, despite the fact they were both already ready for practice. Joey didn't question it either and left them alone.

"Got any plans for spring break?" Carter asked.

Seth crossed his arms. "Guess whatever you're doing. As usual."

"Yeah." Carter laughed. "Apparently, the Santoros like to spend spring break in the swamp."

Seth raised his eyebrows. "Oh."

"Wanna come?"

"With your family?"

Carter shrugged. "You spend a lot of time at the house anyway," he reasoned. "I checked with my mom and Tony. Bella was very supportive when I pleaded my case."

Seth's lips curled upward, despite seemingly trying to fight it. "Sure."

"Cool." Carter smiled. "We should probably go now, before Coach sentences us to cardio all period."

They never made it as far as the gym room, though. Coach and the rest of the team were still in the hallway just outside the locker room. When he saw them, Coach announced they were going outside for their conditioning session that day. There were a few complaints from more than a couple of players. While conditioning could be grueling, if Coach happened to be in that sort of mood, one of the advantages of it was the cleanliness of the gym room and the freshnessness of the AC. No dirt or grass stains, and no smothering wet heat.

Fortunately, it wasn't an excessively hot day for early March. Regardless, it wasn't long before Carter was perspiring, which made the dirt stick to the exposed skin of his arms and legs even more. He was drenched when Coach finally blew his whistle and sent them to the locker rooms. He and Seth stayed behind for a couple of minutes to stretch. Joey tried to stick with them, but got bored quickly and left. Once he did, Carter was surprised to hear Johnny's voice call out his name from the bleachers.

He turned around to watch his boyfriend walk up to him and grinned.

"Hoped you'd come to watch your old man, but I should've known better," Coach Mason spoke from the bench, lifting his eyes from his clipboard.

Johnny smiled. "I see you at home every day."

"You see him every day," Coach shot back, a little more quietly, yet still loud enough.

Seth stifled a laugh. "I'm gonna go. I take it you won't need a ride."

Carter watched him leave before turning back to Johnny. When he did, he found Johnny's eyes somewhere off his face. As soon as they came back up to meet Carter's, he smiled.

"Were you watching?" Carter asked, running a hand through his hair and holding in a wince when it came out damp from the sweat clinging to his scalp. Johnny's eyes followed the movement.

"Uhm? Oh—" Johnny's eyes focused back on Carter's face. He glanced over his shoulder at his dad, before taking a step closer and lowering his voice. "My parents won't be home for a couple of hours today. I was wondering if you wanted to come over."

"I just need to take a quick shower first."

"Or..." Johnny countered. "You could just take one at my place."

Carter was about to point out the impracticality of that plan, before he noticed the expression on Johnny's face. His lips stayed parted, in silence, as his body seemed to pick up on the implication sooner than his mind.

"Oh."

"Is that a yes?" Johnny grinned, amused.

"Yeah. Yes. Yup."

Johnny laughed. "Let's go."

They couldn't run. That would be too obvious. But Carter felt like running. 

His brain was split in half during the drive to Johnny's house. One half desire, one half safety. If Johnny drove too fast over the speed limit and rushed past red lights, they would be endangering themselves and other drivers. But they'd also make it there sooner.

Carter's seat belt was off before the car had stopped moving. They did spring up the stairs to Johnny's room, though.

While being open with their families about their relationship had made way for a feeling of liberty they would never give up, it had come with some downsides. No more closed doors when the parents were in, for example. And Carter's house was never empty.

This was the first opportunity they'd had in two weeks. Which, for two teenage boys who had just started to explore the pleasures of their relationship, had felt like years.

Johnny practically tore Carter's t-shirt off of him, while he toed his shoes off.

"You look really hot doing push-ups on the field," Johnny panted against Carter's lips. "And sit-ups. And those sitting down things."

"Triceps dips?" Carter asked.

Johnny grinned lewdly. "I don't actually care, champ."

Carter laughed. Johnny swallowed that down in a hungry kiss, hands on Carter's still damp chest.

"Thought you didn't like sweaty," Carter said, pulling away.

Johnny usually preferred air-vented places, like libraries, his house and his car. Carter wouldn't protest. He would let Johnny have him wherever he wanted.

He did always try to shower before seeing Johnny, though. Make sure he was clean and fresh. However, judging by the way Johnny's eyes raked the length of his torso, maybe that wasn't necessary.

"I don't like it on me, but you make it look very appealing," Johnny said, licking his lips as he assessed the contours of Carter's stomach. 

Carter had felt other people's attention and want focused on him in the past, but it had never been a source of arousal before. The heat in Johnny's eyes, though, was enough to set his skin on fire.

He let Johnny push him to fall on the bed, and sprawled down on the comforter as Johnny climbed onto his lap. He pinned Carter down with a kiss, before mouthing down his jaw toward his collarbone.

"That can't taste good," Carter breathed.

He lifted his head to look at Johnny and the other boy smiled before his tongue came out to trail a wet path down the middle of Carter's chest. Like he was trying to prove a point.

Carter let his head fall back on the bed with a gasp as Johnny's hands dove bellow his underwear. The fire in his stomach was starting to spread to his whole body, when his phone rang in his pocket.

Johnny stopped the movements of his hand and the works of his mouth to give Carter a dry look.

"Ignore it."

Without a word of complaint or contradiction, Carter reached into his pocket to fish out his phone and declined the call before he could even look at the caller's ID. Johnny resumed their previous activities and Carter melted into a helpless lump of pudding in his hands all over again. 

Eventually, Johnny climbed down from his bed to kneel on the floor between Carter's legs. His lips were just above the elastic band of Carter's boxer briefs when the phone rang again.

Johnny huffed, rubbing a hand over the fabric of Carter's underwear. "Who is it?" He asked.

Carter squirmed from the tantalizing yet insufficient friction, grabbing his phone to look at the screen. "It's Mel," he said.

Johnny put his mouth back on Carter's stomach, kissing down his V-line. "Answer it," he said.

Without thinking, Carter obeyed.

"Hey."

"Hey, Cart," Mel's voice spoke from the other side of the line. "Is this a bad time?"

Carter had to bite his lip not to make a sound when Johnny freed him from his underwear. He lifted his head to shoot him a pointed look and Johnny just smiled shrewdly.

"Cart?"

"Uhm, yeah, I'm here," he said. Johnny's hand wrapped around him, right before his mouth joined in. Carter took in a strangled breath.

"Are you up for some math questions right now, or did I get you at a bad time?"

"What do you—Oh, shit... What do you need?" Carter ran a hand down his face at the delirious feeling of Johnny's tongue, then balled it into a fist to bite into.

Mel started rambling about some math problem she'd gotten stuck on and Carter only heard half of it, with his head too far gone in fucking cloud-nine.

"Are you still there?"

"Sorry, I—Uh... I lost you for a second."

One of Johnny's hands rubbed Carter's thigh, and more of Johnny touching him was the last thing he needed. Or the only thing he needed. His brain was all jumbled.

Mel repeated the key parts of the problem and where she had gotten stuck. It was about derivation, Carter realized, before Johnny's tongue twirled enthusiastically, threatening to wipe any coherent thoughts from his head.

"Can you repeat the initial expression?" Carter asked, a little breathless.

Johnny shot him a wicked little smile.

"You mean this?" He whispered, reprising something he had done with his mouth at the beginning. Carter gripped the comforter. He nearly missed Mel as she complied to his request.

"I think—" Carter's lips parted into a silent moan, when Johnny's hand joined his mouth.

"I think," he started again, "you're getting it wrong because you're trying to use the quotient rule, when it should be the chain rule. If you—" Johnny's tongue cut him off before he could finish his thought and Carter had to bite down on his hand again not to groan.

"Oh, you mean—"

"Yeah, that. I gotta go, now."

"Oh, okay... Thanks, Cart."

Carter hung up before he could say goodbye, but only because he knew if he opened his mouth again only a cry of pleasure would spill out. And that's what happened, as Johnny helped him ride his orgasm to the end.

Johnny climbed back onto the bed after that, straddling him. He was still fully clothed, except for his shoes, as he grinned down at Carter.

Carter shot him a stern look. "You enjoyed that?"

"Calc never sounded hotter," he said. "I think we should start introducing math problems as dirty talk."

Carter snorted. "You're unbelievable."

"Seriously. I think you just turned into every nerd's wet dream right before my eyes."

Carter laughed. He sat up, snaking his arms around Johnny's waist. "Should I return the favor now?"

Johnny smiled, nodding. Carter was about to flip them, but Johnny pushed back. Carter gave into the shove, falling back against the bed. Johnny's eyes shone with mild interest and clear wanting.

"Stay down," he whispered softly.

Carter nodded compliantly. Johnny bit his lip, taking Carter's hands in his to direct him to his fly. Carter did not object the chosen dynamics.

It didn't take much to drive Johnny over the edge. Just like it hadn't with Carter. Two weeks truly felt like an eternity when two people had just dove into the early stages of a strong physical and emotional attraction.

"Come here," Johnny panted, nearing his straining point.

Carter complied, sitting up. Johnny wrapped his arms around Carter's shoulders, as he took him to his limit. They both fell back onto the mattress, once Johnny finished.

Johnny rolled onto his back, by Carter's side.

Carter turned his head to look at him. "You liked that?"

Johnny laughed. "Don't act like you didn't."

Carter shrugged with a smile. "I like it when you like it."

The simplicity of that sentence seemed to be what hung between them. Johnny took a careful second to assess Carter's expression. Carter wasn't sure what he was looking for, but he was willing to give it to him. When it came to Johnny, Carter was all open willingness.

"You really mean that?" Johnny asked, slowly. "You know..."

Carter did know.

"I do," he said.

"Interesting," Johnny mused.

Carter bit down on his lip. "Watching you enjoy yourself sometimes feels as good or better than having you touch me," he confessed.

Johnny's look was hard to read, but it still made Carter's stomach feel warm.

"Very interesting," Johnny mused again. "And duly noted."