Kyle had never spent the night at anyone's house. He'd never had a friend to sleep over with. He was pretty sure Deichman was his friend though, and the other boy had invited him to spend the night. Nichole, of course, had been apprehensive, but Stephen had convinced her that he would be fine and that she was worrying too much.

Even so, Nichole had called Deichman's mother to let her know what she was getting into with Kyle - though she tried not to scare her. There was nothing wrong with him, but he was unusual. They had to face that. She was sure to warn her about Kyle's unusual sleeping habit, but his mother had assured her that was fine, and she knew kids went through phases.

As reassured as she was going to be, Nichole had finally relented. She'd done all she could. When she dropped Kyle off, she rested her hand on his arm. "Call if you need anything. Even if you just forgot your toothbrush, or want to say goodnight, or if something happens and you want to come home, okay?"

"I didn't forget my toothbrush." He smiled. "But I'll call if I need to."

She'd nodded, and smiled, and watched him walk to the door. Only after Deichman's mother let him in did she finally drive away. She didn't notice the ratty van that had followed her.

** ** **


"Come on in, Kyle." Anna smiled warmly to the boy. He didn't look at all different, but her son had shared the boys exploits at school. She was perfectly aware of how highly her son thought of Kyle; she was just glad he'd found a friend. She knew Deichman was a little ... unusual, and she knew how cruel highschoolers could be. "He's upstairs. The closed door with all the music pounding behind it."

Kyle smiled to her. She seemed nice, and he liked her smile. "Thank you." Shouldering his backpack, he climbed the stairs and knocked on his friend's door.

Deichman jerked at the knock, and he reached for the remote of the radio to turn the volume down. He quickly closed the notebook he was sketching in, and shoved it underthe matress. No need for Kyle to see that. "It's open," he called out even as he slid out of bed to stand up.

Kyle tilted his head at the words, but he figured that was like 'come in' - because the door was clearly closed. He twisted the knob to let himself in, and he smiled. "I'm here."

Deichman had to laugh. "I see that. Welcome to my room." He closed the distance between them, reaching out to take Kyle's bag. "Did you have any trouble finding the place?"

"Nichole dropped me off." He let his friend take his bag and he moved curiously around the room. He admired the sketches and posters on the walls, occasionally touching items he came across to examine them more closely. "I like your room," he finally decided, turning to face his friend.

"Thanks." He grinned. Now that Kyle was here, he couldn't think of what to do. Oh, he knew what he wanted to do, but that was a whole other ballgame. "So. Um, hey, do you want to see some of my drawings? My older stuff isn't that good, but you can look at it anyway."

"Yes." Which reminded him of something. "I drew something for you, too."

"Yeah?" He kind of grinned. He watched Kyle cross the room to the bed, leaning over it to get his bag. He tried very hard to stomp down the highly inappropriate thoughts that flooded his head when he saw Kyle bent like that over his bed. Yum. He ran his fingers through his spiked hair as he waited to see what Kyle had drawn.

Kyle was a little apprehensive about handing over the picture. After all, things hadn't gone terribly well when he'd drawn something for Amanda. The difference was - Deichman was just his friend. Shaking off the doubts, he handed over the picture. It was the first time he'd drawn himself into a picture, and it was really the first time he'd ventured into the realms of imagination on his own. The picture showed the pair of them as superheroes, complete with capes.

Deichman kind of laughed when he saw the picture. "I'm not a hero."

"To me you are."

He blushed. The words were so terribly sincere. "Showing you the library wasn't an act of heroism."

"I think it was."

Deciding to just let that go - it was getting awkward - he nodded. "I really like the picture. Thanks."

"You're welcome." He sat down on the edge of the bed, watching as his friend pinned up the picture after clearing a place on the wall. He grinned that slow, full grin that he had. It made him strangely proud to have his work displayed in his friend's room. "So what do we do at a sleepover?"

The sudden change of topic caught him a little off guard. "Uh. Nothing special. We just hang out. Stay up late eating junk and watching movies or listening to music." He shrugged. "Supposedly, we sleep at some point."

He nodded. Josh had told him about the same thing, but he didn't always trust what Josh said.

Deichman nodded as they lapsed into one of those awkward quiets. He gazed at Kyle, sitting on the edge of his bed - his bed! - and he wasn't sure what to do. "So, um. What did you want to do?"

"Whatever you want to do." He grinned lopsidedly. "I'm not hungry, but we could watch movies."

"Sure." He gestured. "The TV room's downstairs." He had a vast collection of DVDs, but they also had tons of channels on the TV.

"Your television has a room?"

"Huh? No. I mean ... we call it that. It's the room with the TV and the games. The entertainment room, I guess."

"Oh." That made more sense, and he stood up, prepared to follow Deichman to the TV room.

** ** **


They had a couch that pulled out into a bed. He'd had a fairly strenuous debate with himself over whether or not he'd use it. In the end, he decided it made more sense, space wise, to use the bed. Kyle helped him pull it out, and they climbed onto it. Kyle hadn't ever done anything like this before, and he decided it was fun. "So what do you want to watch?"

"I don't know. What do you like to watch?" Kyle turned his attention completely to Deichman.

"You don't know what you like to watch." He nodded. He was getting used to Kyle not knowing the answers to things. Even basic things, like 'do you like lasagna.' "Well, we can watch Spider-Man, and X-Men, and Superman. That should take us most of the night." When Kyle nodded his agreement, Deichman set up the five discs in the player, snagged the remote, and hopped back into the bed. "Do you want anything to eat before we get started?"

Kyle shook his head, attention riveted on the television set. It was bigger than the Trager's.

Deichman nodded, studying Kyle's profile. It wasn't the first time he'd watched him like this, but that didn't lessen the experience. There was just something about him that stirred all sorts of feelings. "Do you have a girlfriend?" The question probably seemed random, but it fell in with his train of thought.

Kyle glanced curiously over to Deichman. "No. I like Amanda, but she had a boyfriend."

Straight. Of course. So he nodded, but then Kyle continued to talk. "Don't tell her I said that, though. I told her I was just her friend."

"No problem. She doesn't talk to me, anyway." Though she didn't tease him either, so she had that in her favor. "She's pretty nice."

Kyle smiled. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

He laughed. "Yeah. As if any girl in that school would date me." He hesitated, then added. "Besides. I'm not really interested in girls."

"Girls are interesting."

"Yeah. I mean. I didn't mean they weren't interesting. Just that I wasn't interested in them. Sexually."

"Oh." He wasn't entirely sure what to make of that, so he refocused his attention on the movie.

That had bombed. He shook his head, and watched the movie. Well, he watched Kyle more than the movie - but watching his reactions to it was kind of like watching it. Besides, he'd seen it a hundred times at least.

When it was over, he flipped to the next disc with the remote, and he eased back on the bed, stretching out on his back. "This is the second one. A lot of movies have sequels, and this is part two. Part three comes out next year." Pause. "You want to go see it with me?"

"Okay." Kyle glanced over to Deichman, and he mimicked him by laying out on the bed beside him. He laced his fingers behind his head but above the pillow, so he could still see the TV. He didn't think much of it when Deichman shifted his position, his leg brushing against Kyle's own. He did notice that Deichman was watching him a lot, and he turned his head to regard his friend.

Deichman blushed, looking back at the television screen. He was aware of Kyle's eyes on him though, and he glanced back. "I didn't mean to stare."

"What were you looking at?"

"You. Just...you."

** ** **


Deichman changed the DVD to the next disc in line - the first X-Men movie. "Think you'll be able to stay awake for another movie? These are kind of long."

Kyle nodded. "I can stay awake."

"Cool." He wasn't sure he'd be able to, but he'd give it a shot. Once he'd gotten the disc playing, he eased a little closer to Kyle. Their legs were touching, and their elbows bumped a little, but Kyle didn't seem to mind.

Deichman, however, couldn't be this close to him without wanting a little bit more. Licking his lips, he reached out to run his fingers through Kyle's hair. He was tense, nervous, and he waited to see Kyle's reaction to it. When Kyle simply looked over and smiled, Deichman was encouraged.

The position was awkward for trying anything more, unless he rolled over on top of him, and he wasn't quite ready to be that brave. He pondered how to remedy that, and had an idea. "I'm going to make some popcorn. Do you want some?"

Kyle thought about that, then nodded. While he wasn't especially hungry, he knew popcorn and movies went together.

"Great. I'll be right back."

"Do you want to pause the movie?"

"Nah. I know what happens." He ducked out of the entertainment room, and scooted up to the kitchen. Microwave popcorn was easy, so he did that. Snagging a pair of sodas and a couple of papertowels, he carried everything back downstairs. He smiled to Kyle, offering him a soda before setting the bowl on the bed between them.

Kyle opened his soda, and looked curiously at the popcorn before he took a handful of it. Sleepovers, despite the name, didn't seem to actually involve sleep - but they were fun anyway.

Deichman was a bundle of nerves. The next time Kyle went for the popcorn, he accidentally brushed his hand against Kyle's. Deichman wondered if this would be any easier if he knew that Kyle liked boys. He wondered if maybe Kyle did, and just didn't know that he did. He could hope.

For a little while, he let the pursuit go while he focused on eating and drinking, and watching Kyle do the same. When the popcorn was gone and the soda cans were empty, Deichman moved them off the bed.

"What do you think so far?"

"About the movie?"

"About everything."

"I like the movies. These are all superheroes?"

"Kind of. These are mutants. The movies are based on the comics, but some of the characters are really different. Like that girl, Rogue? In the comics she's a lot older and not such a pansy. And Wolverine - the guy with the claws - he's shorter."

"But they're heroes?"

He nodded. "Yeah. More or less. Magneto and the others are villains though. Bad guys."

Kyle nodded as he pondered that. He watched the movie, and was only vaguely aware of Deichman pressing gently against his side, and the soft weight of his head on his shoulder. He turned his head slightly. "Are you tired? We can go to bed."

"No, it's okay. You can watch the movies. Even if I fall asleep."

Kyle nodded. To better accomodate their positions, he slipped an arm around his friend's shoulders. Deichman's head rested against Kyle's chest, and Deichman exhaled contently. If this was as far as they got tonight, it was something.

"You ever thought about kissing a guy, Kyle?" If things got too weird, he could always claim he got rambly when he got tired, and that Kyle should just ignore anything ... weird that he said.

"No. Boys kiss girls."

"Sometimes boys kiss boys."

"Why?"

Deichman laughed a little. "For the same reason that girls kiss boys and boys kiss girls. Because they like it and it feels good."

"Do you want to kiss me?"

Oh, God. Of all the questions he could have asked. Deichman had no idea how to answer that. Yes, he wanted to kiss him, to touch him, to suck him, but what sort of answer would Kyle want? What wouldn't freak him out?

"Yes." He shifted against his friend, tilting his chin up to gaze at Kyle's face. In the flickering light of the television, it was hard to read his expression. But it was impossible to mistake the slow descent of Kyle's mouth to cover his own in a hesitant, soft kiss.

Deichman closed his eyes as he slid one hand over Kyle's chest to grip his shoulder gently. He deepened the kiss slowly, awkwardly at first before they smoothed out the mechanics of it. He could feel his heart pounding, and his chest was tight with the need to breathe, and he could feel his cock twitching and swelling. Reluctantly, he broke the kiss and gasped for air. "Did you like that?"

"Yes. Did you?"

"Yeah. I liked it." He didn't move away; instead, he buried his face against Kyle's chest. A thousand questions launched through his brain, but he didn't want to think about them. He didn't want to try to figure out if this was just experimentation, or if Kyle felt something about the kiss other than knowing he liked it. He kept his thoughts and words to himself, and focused on catching his breath.

"Should I be aroused?"

"Huh?" He lifted his head quickly. "Are you?"

"Yes."

Deichman swallowed hard, and drew breath to speak when he heard the door open. "Are you boys still up?"

"Yeah, mom. We're going to bed after this movie." He wasn't sure he'd ever had an erection die faster.

She chuckled, but drew the door closed again. She couldn't help but check up on them; it was motherly instinct.

Kyle looked curiously at Deichman as the boy pulled away from him. "Should we not do that?"

"It's complicated, Kyle. It isn't that we shouldn't ... it's just that we try not to get caught." He exhaled a slow breath, and watched the TV for a minute. The movie was almost over. "You want to head up to bed after this?"

"Yes. Can I sleep in your tub?"

His mother had mentioned that, so he just nodded. "Sure." He'd hoped that Kyle would want to sleep with him (in either context), but he was still pleased with the way the night had gone. "Do you need me to show you where it is?"

"No. I saw it earlier."

"Cool." When the movie was over, he turned it off. For a moment, he sat in the darkness before he eased out of bed. Gathering the bowl with the empty cans and papertowels, he waited for Kyle to join him. "So. See you in the morning."

"It is morning."

Deichman laughed. "I'll see you after sleep. Goodnight, Kyle."

"Goodnight." Kyle started up the stairs, for the bathroom with the light blue tub. He wondered if he could paint his a different color. He liked the blue.

Deichman watched him go, a grin curving his lips. Maybe they could do this again, next weekend. Maybe they could do this often.