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can’t afford to lose my rent money over one fuck from a hot guy.”
His stomach burned. Devon stopped backing away, his angry look softening. He nodded, one corner of his mouth lifting in a wry curl. “Okay. I shouldn’t call off tonight anyway—we’re short staffed right now with all the student workers who went home for the holidays already.”
Everything in Adrien loosened. He ignored the feeling, tilting his head to the side like it would somehow give him a better perspective on what was happening. He used words in his best smoke and mirror style to deflect the vaguely questioning look in Devon’s eyes. “Give me a sec to get the spirit gum I keep in my locker… Michael lost his beard entirely one day, when a little girl decided to pull on it. It happened right at the end of our shift, and there weren’t that many kids around, but still… it was just awful. After that we both thought it would be better if we glued it down every day.”
Devon cocked an eyebrow at him. He didn’t say a word, just looked at Adrien straight on and waited.
Adrien flung his hands in the air, sidling around Devon to get to his locker. “What? I was well aware that I was gay in high school. The theater department was like a second home.”
If Devon’s dammed eyebrow climbed any farther up his forehead the freaking thing would be in danger of falling off the back of his head. Adrien bristled. “Oh, whatever—I could give two shits if the stereotypical nature of my being a gay boy who liked theater offends your manly sensibilities, Mr. Action-Hero.”
Devon choked, and then threw back his head to laugh, his teeth gleaming whitely against his honey colored skin. Watching the way the man laughed made Adrien’s heart hurt a little. The openness of his face and the strong line of his throat reached right in through the walls of Adrien’s chest, grabbed his heart and squeezed. Adrien’s breath caught in his throat. For just a second, he forgot everything but Devon again while his unruly cock screamed out a litany of gimme-gimme-gotta-gotta-have-itbay-beeeee. Adrien shuddered, and Devon caught the reaction as he finished laughing and lowered his chin to look back at Adrien.
Devon just watched him silently for a handful of heartbeats. Adrien thought he wouldn’t be able to stop himself from grabbing Devon’s face between his hands so he could hold the big man still while he kissed him again. Adrien’s mouth watered at the thought of licking the little divot on Devon’s chin. Right then, in the second before he moved, Devon walked over, tapped Adrien on the nose, and sat down on the bench between Adrien and the lockers. “Do your stuff, Mr. Theater. We really do need to get back out there asap. We can still make it so their parents have a shot at keeping this a good trip to see Santa for most of these kids… I wouldn’t want them to have bad memories about Christmas because of me.”
Devon’s voice dropped a little at the end of his little speech, and Adrien knew. Somebody somewhere had fucked up Santa for this guy, and for whatever reason the hurt had been big enough, or important enough to linger well into his adulthood. Adrien let his eyes wander a meandering path from the tousled top of Devon’s head to the tips of his shiny black boots. The urge to peel the man out of his shiny red suit and lick all the points in between those boots and then along his chiseled jaw to his dimpled chin left Adrien flushed with a wild mix of anger, sorrow and yearning. Maybe there was a way to make whatever it was up to Devon? Adrien kept his questions about who’d messed Santa up for Devon on hold for the moment. This was not the time, nor the place. Hopefully he’d get another chance to ask them.
Chapter Five
    Devon sat still, letting Adrien apply the spirit gum to his face, and press the beard down. Adrien stood between his spread thighs, his lean hands moving delicately over Devon’s face. With the younger man intent on his task, Devon