Xex rode on his motorcycle, the air curving to make way for him. He was running away from his home, to a little town called Len Faund. Google said it was named after the war outpost settled there in its early days. It was supposed to mean “safe place” in some language he'd never heard of, which made him  look into it more. It was supposed to be a small ass town that no one ever thought about, and when people usually went there their lives were bettered. 

As much as it sounded like a cult, Xex didnt care, he'd rather join a cult than deal with home. Thinking of that his grip tightened and he went faster. He didn't want to think of home. No, he wasn't to call it home anymore. That place wasn’t home anymore. And maybe this place wouldn't work out, but for now, he was going to consider it home.

Quin walked down a dirt road. He was surrounded by portables, the school, a Pop Shoppe (no one knew the name of it so everyone called it Guemedo's), and at the end, a church. A small place, and in the middle of nowhere no less, but home. Sometimes he hated it, wanted to be free. But whenever he thought that, he remembered what it was like in the orphanage, and what he saw on the streets. He'd rather take a stuffed life with one friend than barely one with none. 

Speaking of that friend, what was taking her so long? It was sunday, so she had been dragged to church, and last week some dog did something three states away, so the pastor was probably giving a long speech about how they could all be more like that dog. He didn't understand why he said things like that, when everyone in this town was so goddamn nice already. And christian. He was the only one besides Guemedo who didn't go to church, one of the two who wasn't christian. Him and G weren't, and Guemedo just hated church, but come in early enough on Sunday and you could find him praying at his daughter's shrine.

Quin turned to the church and sighed. As he was saying in the first place, the pastor had a habit of going on long sermons about shit that didn’t matter. And it seemed today wasn’t an exception. Well, it might be, since it was so fucking long today. What the fuck did that dog do? 

Well anyways, it should have been late enough to go in and get a sundae. He turned down the dirt road and walked past his house on the way to Guemedos. It was nowhere close to anything special, just another portable that everyone lived in. Only thing interesting about it was that it was the first in town. He remembered when Guemedo showed it to him. He told him, “It’s always important to have a place to call home. And even if you won’t call this place home, I hope you can find something in it to call home” 

Those words had stuck with him.

He opened the door to Guemedos and the sweet aroma of the little shop filled his nostrils. A quaint 80’s diner that was the oldest place in town, it was Quins favorite place to be. It was quite spacious with the bar in the right corner in front of the door, and a few tables scattered across the room. The place stayed true to its hospital beginnings with a theme of red and white. He sat on a red leather diner stool in front of Guemedo, the owner of the diner. He’d been here longer than anyone else, and yet he looked to be only in his 50’s. Guemedo looked over to Quin and grabbed a parfait glass, setting it down on the counter. "Where's G?" He rasped out, grabbing some strawberries for Quins sundae. Quin leaned on the counter. "Wow, you ask about G but not me?" Guemedo shot him a sharp glare. "Relax, I'm kidding.” He pushed off of the counter. “She's still stuck in church." Quin said. Guemedo grunted. "Yeah it’s a long one today." Quin sighed. As Guemedo made his sundae, Quin stared out the window. Sundays always sucked. G, the one person he liked in this backwards town, was always at church, so he had to go to Guemedo's alone. Which Guemedo was cool and all, but he couldn’t help but wish G was there.

Back to Xex

Xex pulled into the first parking lot in town. It was the parking lot to a little diner, or something. He didn't know, he had lived a sheltered life, so he had never seen a diner. Just fancy restaurants where you had to dress up to eat a olive on a stick. 

He pulled open the door, and caught a ugly glare from the one patron. He wore a black tank-top, and his hair was all to one side like he had really bad bedhead and hadn't bothered to fix it.

And he was beautiful.

Xex sat a few seats away from him and smiled, and then remembered he still had his helmet on. He took off his helmet and shook his head to get his hair back in place. He could get pretty bad helmet hair but a simple shake usually fixed it.

He looked back over at the only patron, his face touched with a bit of red. "Damn you look like a movie star." He remarked as his sundae was served. The burly man serving had a name tag saying “Guemedo”. Guemedo looked over at Xex and grunted "What will you be having?" 

Xex looked up and saw a board displaying all the meals. Nothing was appetizing to him but the chili fries and the foot long hot dog. 

Guemedo coughed, snapping Xex back to attention. "Oh. Can I have a order of chili fries and a foot long?" He instantly regretted ordering as he had not decided yet and he had a small stomach. But oh well, what was said was said.

“Sure you want to try those fries?” the black tank top guy said. Guemedo rolled his eyes. “Oh let him figure it out for himself Quin.” Quin looked at Xex and winked. “Nice to meet you..?” Quin trailed off, looking at Xex as if to ask his name. Xex cracked a big grin “Xex. I’m Xex.” Quin stared at his mouth, spread so wide and grinned a bit too. “Nice to meet you Xex. I’m Quin.”

Guemedo slammed down Xex’s order. “Stop staring into eachothers eyes and eat.” The two blushed, suddenly taking an interest in their food. Xex’s fries were a bit spicy, but not horribly.

“What's so bad about the fries?” The two looked back and forth between each other and Xex with surprised expressions. “What?” Xex asked. Quin laughed. “Those are the spiciest things in the state.” Xex laughed too. “Couldn’t tell!” Guemedo rolled his eyes at the two and started cleaning out a glass. 

Quin’s laugh tapered off. “But those are actually the spiciest shit around.” Xex grabbed a fry and held it out. “Wanna try?” Quin blushed a little and looked down at his sundae. “Nah I’m good.” He said, looking back up at Xex. “Don’t wanna ruin my sundae.” Xex ate the fry, making a faint ‘aw’ sound. Quin gave in and almost grabbed the fry from his mouth, but decided that’d be weird and just grabbed one from the tray. 

He stuffed it in his mouth and tears instantly welled up in his eyes. He coughed and Xex laughed. “HOLY SHIT THEY REALLY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THAT SPICY!” Xex took his water and held it up to Quin’s mouth. He took gulps of the water, cooling down his throat. But it wasn’t enough. Thankfully, Guemedo put down another glass of water. He looked down at the two, and the way they already cared for each other. It seemed Quin might have found something to call home. He smiled and made a note to not check Quin’s house tomorrow. 

Xex pulled away the water and looked at Quin’s mouth, dripping with water. He’d never had a thing for wet people, but damn that was sexy. He turned away. Why was he thinking this about a man? And one he just met too! This was wrong, he shouldn't be thinking these thoughts.

He shook his head and went back to eating. He shouldn't like a man, and he wouldn't.

 《●》

Quin threw the stem of a cherry back in the glass and turned to Xex fumbling through his wallet. He pulled out a ten dollar bill and held it out to Guemedo. He shook his head and pushed it down. "Keep it. You'll need it for later" Xex looked at Guemedo. “Are you sure?” 

“Don’t make me change my mind.” Guemedo huffed.

Xex walked over to Quin standing right next to the door. “Hey, Quin right?” He looked up and nodded. “Yeah. Your Xex right?” Xex put his hands on his hips and grinned. “You know it!” Quin looked him up and down, admiring his jacket. It was leather with dull spikes in places, and had a collar that folded over in two diamond like shapes. It was truly a good biking jacket, and went really well with his shoulder length hair. Quin looked at that hair and wondered how soft it was. 

“Hey, wanna go outside with me and see something super cool?” Quin asked Xex. Xex turned to Guemedo, seeming to trust his judgment already. Guemedo just chuckled “It might be Quin, but trust him on this one.” Xex turned to Quin and held out his hand. “Sure.” Quin grabbed his hand and pulled him outside. He pointed up into the cloudy sky, with a hole leaking in all the moon and starlight. “It’s beautiful isn’t it? No city haze, no unnatural light, just the sky at its finest.”

Xex just stared up and sighed. “Yeah…” they stood there and looked up for a while. “So what are you doing here?” Quin asked, making Xex’s hand tense. “Ah- well, I’m-” Quin squeezed his hand, “You don’t have to tell me.” He grinned. “After all, you only just met me.” Xex squeezed back. “Maybe, but I still have to say…” He lifted up Quin’s chin. “You're almost as pretty as the sky.” 

What the fuck was he doing.

Quin scoffed. “You know, you're supposed to say I’m prettier than the sky.” Quin grabbed Xex’s hips and pulled him closer. “Yeah yeah,” His hands fell to Quin’s shoulders. “But I’m just stating the truth.” Xex paused. He knew it was wrong for a man to sleep with another man, but this man… He pressed his mouth into Quin’s. He pulled away for a minute then came back together stronger, Quin making sure to rub his lips on Xex’s chapped lips as much as he could. …fuck it.

“Wanna go to my place?” Quin breathed out. Xex nodded. It was wrong, but he didn't care, he was going to fuck this man, even if he felt like it was just one big "fuck you" to his family. He moved his hand back down to Quins, ready to be dragged away. God he wanted to.

☆☆☆