Phoenix by Joey James Hook

couldn’t be petulant for long when Devon was
    laughing, even if it was at his expense.
    “Smooth move, Mr. Linebacker,” Devon choked out
    through hysterical laughter. Riley was laughing too hard
    and too deeply to respond properly, so all he could really do
    was flip off his friend and try to glare at him, but the wide,
    dimpled smile was fucking plastered to his face, no chance
    of it disappearing any time soon.
    “Go fuck yourself, you lanky fucker,” Riley finally
    breathed out through his laughter, cocking an eyebrow and
    tackling Devon to the ground out of nowhere. Devon let out
    a half-laugh, half-scream and crumbled beneath him, arms
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    falling gracelessly around Riley’s shoulders in a rather
    compromising, romantic sort of position but neither of them
    paid much attention to it.
    “Oh fuck, you are heavyyy,” Devon groaned, pushing at
    Riley’s shoulder without any force behind it, and Riley
    laughed. This was all just so funny to him, he couldn’t even
    contain himself; his hazel eyes glinted vividly with mirth
    and pure amusement. “Get off meeeee!” Devon whined,
    pushing at him again.
    “Nope,” Riley replied simply, grinning and flashing
    perfectly straight white teeth at Devon. “I’m actually quite
    comfortable right here.”
    “I bet you are, you big oaf,” Devon groaned, thrashing
    weakly. Luckily, Riley wasn’t putting anywhere near his full
    weight on the smaller man, so he wasn’t actually squishing
    him like he would have been had he tackled him like
    another football player.
    “Okay, fine,” Riley gave in after a moment of thrashing,
    and stood. He held his hand out to Devon, who took it with
    a playful scowl as he was lifted off his feet. “You’re perfectly
    fine, aren’t you?”
    “My pride is wounded!” Devon crowed, and Riley
    snorted in amusement.
    “ Your pride? Who’s the one who just broke a fucking
    branch and fell on his ass a second time in ten minutes?”
    Riley asked, but he couldn’t keep his face serious enough to
    have the effect it should have.
    “Very true,” Devon said with a snort of mirth, eyes
    glittering much the same. “That was a typical ape move
    right there.”
    “Yeah, yeah,” Riley rolled his eyes with a grin. “Laugh it
    up, little guy.”
    “Better to be little and fast than big and…well, fuck.
    You’re fast, too,” Devon said, shaking his head at himself.
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    Riley collapsed into another fit of riotous laughter, sitting on
    the grass and shaking his head. His cheeks hurt from smiling
    as wide as he was and his ribs hurt from laughing so hard.
    Or maybe that was from the fall. He wasn’t sure but he’d
    rather go for the first option.
    Devon collapsed beside him, still chuckling under his
    breath. He let his body go, his face smashed against Riley’s
    bicep. Riley didn’t mind in the slightest and just leaned back
    on his hands casually, catching his breath.
    “Oh man, that was fun,” Devon mused, and Riley
    nodded.
    “Are you always that fun?” Riley asked, nudging him
    gently. Devon looked up at him with a broad grin.
    “Maybe you should find that out for yourself?” he said,
    raising his brows in a suggestive move. Riley cracked
    another grin.
    “Maybe I should,” he said with a slow, overly-pensive
    nod. He had a thought and ran with it before he could
    overthink it like he did every other thing in his life. “You
    wanna go out again tonight? Dinner, eight o’clock, meet at
    my dorm?”
    “Abso-fucking-lutely,” Devon replied, grin positively
    radiant.
    Riley leaned over and pecked him affectionately on the
    lips, grasping onto the last of his courage. Devon grinned
    into it and kissed him back happily, cupping the back of his
    head and keeping him close, deepening it.
    Riley had no problems with that.

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Chapter Thirteen
    lake woke up the next morning and didn’t even want to
    B come out from under his blanket, let alone face the
    world. He felt like his body was