JUDE.

            “ You’re here to be a little more Glinda than Elphaba for once in your life and save me from myself. “      He’s only even seen the original Wizard or Oz and none of the Wicked stageplay, so don’t even start on him about his analogy—— movements are lethargic, Jude’s typical energy slashed in half by his growing discomforts. Protectively, subconsciously, palm rests low on navel ( where heat pulses and flares ) while following after companion. Eyes slip down Elliot’s form of their own accord, noting the set of his shoulders, slope of his spine, and the shape of his ass with a new, rut – induced appreciation. He doesn’t immediately catch himself, but when thoughts make an abrupt, lewd to just what the warlock may look like without any of his clothes on

— that’s when Jude starts with a flinch, face’s reddened hue deepening. 

             In retrospect, maybe calling over a ‘friend’ to keep him from mounting total strangers in a public washroom was an even more terrible idea on his part. Judgement and horror directed at him from people he didn’t know is a bit more bearable than having it directed at him by people he does.      “ I won’t hang out long. I… have to back in a couple hours to pick up my bike that’s next door. “


                        ———IT WASN’T THAT HE COULDN’T TELL THE MAN WAS LOOKING AT HIM. he could certainly tell. street by street, he tried to ignore the gaze the other seemed to be driving into him from behind, as difficult as that was. this was not the gaze of a hunter and prey, nor the unsavory glare he was used to with others in similar professions. he sensed there was something more to the man’s supposed fever, more than jude would care to admit.

      ❝ i could come back with your keys and park it in my garage. you don’t seem so good on your feet, i don’t really trust you to drive it properly. ❞
he kept his bike here in germany, not wanting to overcrowd it in busy new york streets where the best form of transportation was the subway. entering the station from the stairway down, he waved the man over to the platform as the train pulled up. trips like these were short and often on time. the flat he’d bought in berlin charted at around thirteen hundred euros a month, a price for the easy access to the train and u-bahn.

     

❝ i’m sure you’ll be thrilled to see my cat. ❞