Carter's Shadow - 29. Chapter 29

Will was resting on his bed, paperwork strewn about him, as he adjusted his glasses and kept working. It had to be about seven o'clock in the evening and he was taking the opportunity to get caught up on some of his other work. Maybe if he could get it all done that night, without the constant call centre interruptions, he might be able to relax a bit at work.

He looked up at Sprog standing uncertainly in the doorway, looking worried. And Will set his pen aside and smiled up at the young man, "I take it you heard."

Peter looked uncertain, standing in the doorway to Will's room, hands folded over his customary garish shirt, tucked into his armpits as if he could protect himself from the world that way. His eyes were pensive and troubled, as they wandered around the room looking at everything but Will.

"He's all right," Will reassured standing up. "He's awake and the police say that he's pressing charges..."

"I want to go see him," Peter said firmly, a resolute look on his face as he set his jaw and squared his shoulders.

"It's after visiting hours," Will said. "They won't let you in."

"I have to see him," Peter insisted, urgently, looking up at Will with a pair of pleading blue eyes, earnest and hopeful that Will would pull off another miracle for him. Praying for it.

Will stood there a short time, just looking down at those eyes, chewing his lip as he took a long deep breath.

Peter knew that sigh; a sigh of resignation that meant Will wasn't going to argue--that he had just given in--and Peter threw his arms around Will and pressed him tight. Will shook his head down at the young man, resting his chin on top of Peter's head.

"One of these days I am going to say no," he murmured.

"You can't, you love me too much," Peter said in all seriousness, leaning back and smiling.

Will nodded, "No promises that we're even going to get in; they normally don't allow anyone onto the wards after hours but family members."

Peter gave a shrug, "We can try, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose." Will stepped back into the main part of the room and gathered up his papers to put them into his briefcase. If they were going to try this, Will had the sinking suspicion he would end up waiting somewhere for an extended period of time and he might as well take his work with him.

"Do you have a plain shirt?" Peter asked, shocking Will into turning around to see Peter picking through his wardrobe.

"Plain?" Will asked in confusion, looking at Peter's normal attire of baggy cargos, bright and gaudy shirt and visor cap. Plain was not something he immediately associated with Peter.

"Yeah," Peter pulled out a few of Will's dress shirts, looked at them and set them back, "West said he likes me in solid colours..."

"Oh he did, did he?" Will asked, smirking. "Before or after he kissed you?"

"Before," Peter said, for the first time ignoring the obvious jab, as he tugged on one of Will's shirts at the back of the closet, looking at the dark blue dress shirt and frowning as he held it up against him. It was easily a size too large for him, but he didn't seem to care, popping it on a dresser as he dove back in looking for a pair of pants.

"You must really like this boy after all," Will said, closing up his briefcase and turning, blinking as Peter started shucking clothes.

"I..." Peter sighed, leaning against the closet door as he pulled his cargos off and let them drop beside his shirt, "I don't know, I... he's just.... I can't explain it."

Will nodded, realizing how grown-up Peter had become at that moment. There was definition to the curves of his legs vanishing into the plaid boxer shorts, and a faint hint of muscles under the tight two-toned tee shirt he was wearing.

"Dirty old man," Peter commented, catching Will's eyes as they slid downwards.

Will shook his head and looked up, laughing, "You're the one that started stripping in front of me, I was just thinking how grown-up you're getting."

"Okay..." Peter blushed looking down a bit, and then back up. "I'm too thin," he complained.

"Not really," Will shook his head. "You're always working in the gardens, it shows. You're toned."

"Not old and flabby like you?" Peter flashed a bright grin.

"Excuse me?" Will's eyebrow shot up.

Peter grinned and crossed the bedroom to poke Will's tummy, causing Will to flinch involuntarily--he was extremely ticklish. Will caught Peter's hands and held him back effortlessly.

"Just because I don't work out every day and have washboard abs doesn't mean I'm flabby," Will admonished. "My stomach is quite flat, thank you very much."

"Yeah?" Peter grinned again, and slipped a hand free to yank up the bottom of Will's shirt, poking the soft flesh down there, "See? Flab!"

"That's not flab," Andrew remarked walking into the bedroom and collapsing onto the edge of the bed to regard the two friends. "You want flab, look at his butt."

"Don't encourage him," Will said, pulling Peter's finger out of his belly button, "he's already trying to seduce me."

"I was wondering about the underwear," Andrew said with a smirk as he folded his hands behind his head, "but then you never know with this house."

"I was getting changed," Peter said, calming down with Andrew there. A little of his more usual shyness poked through as he quickly pulled on a pair of Will's black dress slacks and slid the dark blue dress shirt over his white tee.

Will watched Peter thoughtfully; how vibrant the young man could be when he came out of his shell with him, and yet how quickly he could retreat back into it the second other people were around. Andrew cared about Peter a great deal, but there would never be the kind of closeness that Will and Peter shared.

"Ready?" he asked, as Peter adjusted the collar of the shirt, leaving it partially open.

"Yeah," Peter replied, smiling hesitantly as he glanced towards his hat, but decided, thankfully, to leave it where it was. Instead he fiddled with his fine blonde hair, trying to get it to sit properly.

Once they were both loaded into the Jeep, Will gave up, reached out and in three rakes of his finger had Peter's hair sitting exactly the way it should sit, parting off from centre, and a few strands hanging down brushing the top of his thin eyebrow, drawing attention to his eyes.

"You ever tell anyone I know how to do that..." Will threatened.

Peter grinned as he looked appreciatively in the mirror, "I'll keep quiet if you show me how to do that."

"Deal," Will nodded pulling the Jeep out onto the road and buckling his seatbelt. The pair of them sat quietly as they drove into town, Peter unusually lost in his thoughts, watching as the trees on the side of the highway slipped by.

"Will..." Peter said--the way he hitched his voice, he sounded like he wanted to ask an awkward question.

"Yeah, Sprog?" Will shifted in his seat, reaching out to turn down the music playing from the radio.

""Nothing..." Peter dismissed it, going back to stare out of the window.

Will sat a moment, bothered by the fact Peter was holding something back, that was unlike him as well. "Still upset about what happened?" Will asked carefully.

"No...Well, yes...but..." Peter gave a loaded sigh, "Blake and I...."

"Yeah?" Will glanced at Peter, the words Blake and I sinking in and rolling around a moment before his imagination took them the next step... "What?" he gaped openly.

"I...I think so..." Peter blushed bright red. "I mean it wasn't like... and we were in class..."

"Class?" Will repeated, falling back into the seat of the Jeep, and trying to get it back into one lane. Luckily there was nothing else on the highway at the time, or there could have been an accident. "Wait..." he shook his head, "we're talking about sex, right?"

"Yeah..." Peter was beet-red now.

"You had... sex... in class?" Will asked holding onto the wheel, realizing how absurd it sounded, even to him. In many ways Peter was still the quiet little twelve-year-old who had hid at the back of Will's English class, desperate for someone to pay him attention. Not the eighteen-year-old who apparently now got up to other things in the back of a classroom.

"I..." Peter rubbed his forehead. "I didn't want to," he said lamely, as if he was trying to convince himself of it as well as Will, knowing full well how it sounded. That had been why it had taken him so long to say anything to his big brother.

"Right," Will said, concerned; Peter didn't seem to be happy, "and...did you say no?"

"I tried," Peter said, again looking out the window too ashamed to meet Will's gaze, "but I was in class, and I couldn't without... well, everyone finding out."

Will's brow creased darkly. "I see," he rumbled.

"I..." Peter glanced at Will before looking away again, "I didn't know how to stop it; I mean part of me liked it, part of me wanted him to stop and..." Peter's shoulders sagged, "I'm just screwed up."

"You aren't screwed up," Will reassured. "You're just confused, all of this is still very new to you. Before West you had never kissed anyone that I know of, unless you've been holding out on me."

"No," Peter shook his head, "that's just it, my first kiss, and my first... my first..."

"I know what you're trying to say," Will said, sparing the boy having to come out and say it.

"Isn't it supposed to be special or something?" Peter again looked sad. "Have I screwed it all up?"

Will shook his head, "No, the first time you have...that.... it's going to be lame."

"Was it like that for you and Andrew?" Peter looked up again.

"Well, it took a couple of tries to get everything working the way it's supposed to," Will grinned at the memory of the constant apologies and the bumped heads. "But the first time you make love... now that's special. No one will ever spoil that for you. The first time you kiss a guy and mean it, that's special." He looked over at Peter, "An awkward grope in the middle of chemistry class..."

"It was computer studies..."

"Computer studies?" Will looked incredulous. "How in the holy hell did you pull that off? Mister Watson's got eyes like a hawk."

Peter blushed again, "Well Blake just kinda reached out under the desk and..."

"'K; you know, perhaps I shouldn't ask that question," Will chuckled.

"Why not?" Peter looked up. "I tell you everything anyway. Just like I know everything about you."

"Yeah, well...still, don't you think it's weird?" Will asked. "You know, just weird."

Peter shrugged, "I guess, but sometimes you're the only person I can talk to, and if I can't talk about this stuff, how am I supposed to know what I'm doing wrong?"

"You did something wrong?" Will asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Well, it kinda hurt... a little...I guess..." Peter went awkward again.

"Well," Will shifted again a little uncomfortable himself, "that can happen sometimes, I mean if you're...well..."

"Bad at it?" Peter asked.

"I was going to say, circumcised," Will said, shaking his head. "You can't be bad at it if you weren't even trying."

"I'm not," Peter said folding his arms, turning red again.

"You're not?" Will asked confused. "You're not what?"

"Circumcised." Peter turned red again.

"'K, see, now there are a few things I didn't know about you," Will said with a smile, which turned into a frown as he realized that he now did know.

"Well, you asked," Peter grumbled, folding his arms and looking petulant. "What's wrong with me talking about it with you?"

Will chuckled looking over at his grumpy sprog and shaking his head. "Nothing, I guess, it's just weird. I can honestly say I never thought you and I would have a discussion about your..." Will twitched, "thingy."

"What's wrong with my thingy?" Peter looked down.

"Stop that," Will grinned, knowing all too well where Peter got the bad habit of reading too much into words--it was one of Will's worst habits. "There is nothing wrong with your...thingy... I'm uncut as well." He smirked, "We have more fun."

"Well, it was my mom," Peter said. "She needed a way to tell me apart from Bobby."

"You know, I can see that getting very inconvenient at Christmas," Will grinned. "Grandma's over, drop your drawers so she knows who's who..."

"Shut up, perv!" Peter pushed Will's arm, turning bright red again.

"What? You brought it up," Will laughed. "But seriously, though, it probably hurt because Blake was going a bit harder than you're used to. Remember, circumcised boys have to use cream and stuff so it works a bit easier, so they are used to going a bit faster... Plus we're more sensitive."

"You mean it's always gonna burn?" Peter looked horrified.

"No," Will laughed at the shocked expression on Peter's face. "No, you just need to...show them how you like it."

"Well not like that!" Peter declared loudly. "I like to take my time."

"'K, we're back into that weird area again," Will warned. "Now we're discussing masturbation."

"Well," Peter gave a sigh, "I like it nice and slow, before I go to bed... it helps me sleep."

"Right," Will nodded.

"And when I get up," Peter added quickly.

"Ok..."

"And on Saturdays I get to use your computer..."

"Ok," Will held up his hand, "I really don't need to know that you masturbate in front of my computer." He stopped and looked at Peter again, "When did you find the time to... Oh come on, I'm right upstairs..."

"What?" Peter blushed again, "is that bad, is it too much?"

"Ok, see," Will shook his head, "there are somethings big brothers aren't supposed to know... it's not abnormal, I'm just a little surprised that you're that bold. I mean the basement's wide open, anyone could walk down there and catch you.

"You did once," Peter looked down at the floor of the Jeep.

"I did?" Will blinked. "When?"

"You came down right before I was going to... and I had to cover myself with my shirt. I thought for sure you'd seen me."

"'K, lesson one, me totally oblivious, especially first thing on a Saturday morning; you could have been stark bullock naked and I wouldn't have noticed." Will shook his head, "Wait, why my computer?"

"It's got the video files," Peter again blushed.

"You're raiding my porn?" Will rubbed his forehead, shaking his head, "I can explain that..."

"No you can't," Peter grinned.

"No, you're right I can't," Will replied. "How about we agree to not mention this to Andrew?"

"Why not? His porn is better." Peter's grin broadened.

"What?" Will's head snapped around. "Andrew...porn... oh this conversation should never have happened." He hung his head a bit and shook it, "I swear, you're out to give me grey hairs."

"Sometimes," Peter admitted with a cheeky grin. "So, how often do you...?"

"What, a day, a week?" Will gave up and decided to humour Peter's questions.

"A day?" Peter nodded eagerly.

"Depends on if Andrew stays over or not, 'cause if he's over he's the one doing it, and I don't get much sleep," Will chuckled. "Six hours one night, he wouldn't leave me alone; I think he just wanted to see how often I could... Anyway, I told him off the next day, I think he was trying to rub me raw!"

"Ouch," Peter winced. "But when you went to Kings College? You know, and Andrew stayed here."

Will chuckled, "That's actually where most of the porn came from, there was this great FTP site on campus... anyway... ok, I think the most I ever did was like five times in a day. Though my roommate Jeff... he had to be the all-time record holder, thirteen times one night."

"Jeff---Lisa's Jeff?" Peter blinked.

"Yeah, back before he met Lisa, he wasn't exactly lucky with the girls; I used to lay in bed and have to listen to him. The beds in our dorm squeaked so you could always hear it." Will shook his head, "The amount of abuse he used to put it through, it's a wonder it didn't drop off."

"It can drop off?" Again Peter looked horrified.

"No," Will laughed, "I'm kidding." He shook his head; sometimes Peter was so worldly, and at others so totally naive.

"So it's ok that I do it that much?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, you're normal," Will reassured. "It'll slow down when you get a bit older and meet someone you love."

The Jeep rolled into the parking lot of the hospital and Will looked up, "Well kiddo, here we are. Now remember, let me do all the talking."

"Okies," Peter nodded.