Page 117 of Psync
“I . . . lost time, didn’t I?” Eli turned his face away as shame crept over him.
It had been a long time since he’d fugued out. Years, actually, otherwise his family would never have let him leave home for college.
A hand on his chin brought his attention back to Haruka, but Eli couldn’t bring himself to look at him.
“You don’t have to look at me, but I can’t let you believe I would ever think less of you over that—or anything.”
“Anything?” Eli tried to shove a note of levity into his voice. “What if I liked to hit people with my car for fun?”
Haruka buried his face in Eli’s hair and said, “I’d get you a better car.”
Eli laughed and finally allowed himself to look at Haruka. “You’re obsessed.” He brushed a strand of hair away from his boyfriend’s face.
Haruka shrugged as if he couldn’t be bothered to deny it.
“Do you know why I blanked out like that?”
Haruka nodded.
“Does it have something to do with why we’re on an airplane?”
Haruka nodded.
“You’re afraid if you tell me, I’m going to freak out again, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
Okay, that was fair. He didn’t like it, but it was a reasonable reaction to have. Especially since Eli hadn’t told him it was a possibility. It must have been scary as hell.
“Scary, yes.” Haruka nodded as he followed Eli’s train of thought.
“Is there a time when you’d be comfortable telling me? Because I really should know at some point.”
“I’d rather wait until we get to Japan.”
“We’re going to Japan?!”
Eli had thought maybe they were going somewhere close-ish, like Montreal, or Florida, but he hadn’t taken into account Haruka’s extra-ass personality. How stupid of him not to take that into consideration.
“You really should have.” Haruka agreed. “And you should keep your voice down if you don’t want people to think I’ve kidnapped you.”
“Feel free to kidnap me to Japan any time you want.” Eli shifted his weight because the side of the cubicle was digging into his left ass cheek. “This thing is a bit snug for two people, isn’t it?”
“Do you want your own?” Haruka asked carefully.
Eli considered. “How long do we have until we land?”
Haruka checked his phone. “Three hours until we change planes in London.”
The next cubicle was diagonal and seemed far away, but the newly forming bruise on Eli’s ass made him think it was still a solid option, even if for a little while. “Is that one mine?”
Haruka nodded, not looking particularly enthused about Eli crawling out of his lap, but he didn’t protest, until they parted and—
Wrongwrongwrong
They locked eyes at the same time, both with twin looks of surprise. Eli scrambled back into Haruka’s lap at the same time Haruka reached out to drag him back down. As soon as they touched, his internal alarm cut off. He was engulfed in the same warm, happy feeling he’d been enjoying when he’d woken up.
After a minute, Eli said tentatively, “So . . . that was new.”
