“I didn’t know it was a thing,” Jett admitted. It’s not like he had done penetrative sex with anyone but Harrison, so he was still naïve about certain things. “It was fucking intense. I’m pretty sure I caught a glimpse of my past life when I was on the verge of passing out.”
Harrison laughed, and Jett’s body shook along with him. “You say the funniest things, Fraser.”
Jett smirked and rubbed his nose against Harrison’s cheekbone. “Fraser, not Sunshine?”
Harrison shrugged. “You don’t seem to like that name unless I’m fucking you.”
“As long as you don’t say it in front of Jin, I’m not…opposed.” Jett toyed with a wet strand of Harrison’s black hair, mesmerized by how soft it was. “I don’t have a nickname for you, and it makes me sad.”
“Then give me one.”
Jett tickled Harrison’s nose with his captive strand of hair until he moved out of reach. “Like sugar plum?”
Harrison rested his chin on Jett’s other shoulder, being mindful of the bruises from his injury. “Not like that, good lord.”
“Stud?”
“Jesus.”
“Grumbles?”
“Jett.”
“Harry?”
Harrison pinched his cheek. “Don’t you fucking dare.”
Jett grinned. “I’m sensing some trauma surrounding that name.”
Groaning, Harrison let go of his cheek and nuzzled into his neck. “I got bullied a lot as a kid because my family had money, and you know our town didn’t have the wealthiest community.”
“Yeah,” said Jett. “I used to be one of the unwealthy ones.”
“Exactly.” Harrison started massaging his thighs, needing to do something to distract himself. “It’s not the biggest sob story you’ll ever hear. Before hockey made me cool in everyone’s eyes, I think a lot of kids in my age group were listening to their parents talk about me and where I came from. The anger directed toward my parents was also directed toward me through my peers, and it made it hard to make friends. I didn’t know I had money until I told my parents everyone in my class hated me, and they had to explain why. I didn’t want to escalate things because fuck that, so I took their cold looks and name calling. and found something else to do—which happened to be playing hockey.”
Hockey was the rich-kid sport, so it made sense that Harrison found more acceptance on the ice than in a classroom filled with elementary kids.
“They used to call me Harry and add on words like kids do because they’re dumb,” Harrison continued. “Harry feet, Harry nose, Harry wiener, Harry butt, I swear I’ve fucking heard it all.”
“That’s a legit reason to dislike being called Harry.” Jett cupped Harrison’s cheek and drew him in for a kiss, stunning the sadness out of him. “I’m leaning toward Grumbles.”
He got an eyeroll for his cheekiness, but Harrison didn’t argue his name choice.
“I missed you,” said Harrison, and this time it was Jett’s turn to be stunned. “I know you’re not okay, but I’m happy to be able to talk to you again. I can’t understand half of what Robert says sometimes.”
Jett laughed because he knew what he was talking about. His dad had a funny way of communicating.
“We haven’t had the best start relationship-wise,” Jett said, chuckling. “We jumped in without thinking, so we didn’t have time for a lot of the hard conversations.”
“Hard conversations?” Harrison kissed his aching shoulder. “Is this the part where you explain why you thought I would hate you for what Chase did?”
Jett sucked in a sharp breath. Had he said that out loud at some point?
“Also, if this relationship were easy from start to finish, I wouldn’t trust anything about it. You don’t know a person until you see them at their worst, and you won’t know how to navigate situations until you’ve gonethrough hard shit together. Struggle builds strength, so what we’re going through now will make us stronger in the long run.”
Harrison’s explanation was so simple, but that’s what made it so perfect. Jett logically knew that Harrison was too deep in feelings to abandon him for a stupid reason, but it was difficult to shake the thought sometimes.
His mother had abandoned him. His brother had betrayed and abandoned him. His father—who he loved dearly and could never hate—had to work multiple jobs to keep him in hockey, leaving him alone a lot of the time.
