It was unusually hot. The fan slowly blew air across them from near the door. On the bed, Jake had lit up a smoke despite the heat. Avery had settled on a book and decided not to move once he had flopped across the other boy, head pillowed on his stomach. Occasionally blowing smoke out through his nose towards the open window, Jake threaded his fingers through Avery’s hair as the other boy read, combing through it and massaging his scalp, nails scratching lightly. It didn’t take long for the book to slip in Avery’s fingers, his eyes falling shut and the pages no longer turning. Jake smiled lazily, something sparking in his stomach at the other boy’s contented hum, and he ruffled his hair quickly before resuming his stroking, fingers falling to behind Avery’s ears.
They were silent and comfortable, Jake’s fingers tangling in Avery’s hair as he took another slow drag from his fag, and Avery smiling, book forgotten next to him and eyes closed. Jake loved this, the way they didn’t need words to be comfortable. They only needed each other.
They lay like that for what seemed like forever, Jake eventually sitting up just enough to bend over to Avery’s ear, fag long discarded in the cup on the floor, and whisper things to him no one else need hear. He kissed behind his ear and around it, fingers still working all the while in his hair, and grinning against his mouth when Avery reached up and curled his fingers around the back of Jake’s neck to pull him down even farther for a kiss.