Page 44 of Sean's Sunshine
How odd. Sean Kryzynski, cop from the cradle, always the protector, had started this relationship by trusting himself to someone else’s care.
The noises changed, and Billy entered the room, undressing in the light from the bathroom night-light and putting his jeans and henley neatly on the chair. Sean cracked his eyes open to see if Billy was going to sleep commando and breathed a slight prayer when he saw that Billy’s briefs stayed on, just as Sean’s did under his sleep pants.
“Afraid I’ll let the monster out?” Billy asked, keeping his voice low as he moved to the other side of the bed and climbed in.
“Peens are not… practical,” Sean returned with dignity. “If they’re not contained, they jiggle, they get poked or flop around. And balls are worse. I once woke up late for a test during the academy after a late night, and I wasn’t wearing any underwear. Itrippedon my balls. They got caught between my thighs.”
Billy’s snort of laughter was muffled by the back of Sean’s neck.
“I fell down, hit my face against my desk, and went in with a black eye. I told my entire class I got into a bar fight the night before.”
Billy was openly laughing behind him, not even bothering to muffle himself.
“You arelying,” he whooped. “That is not possible.”
“True story,” he said—and it was, mostly. He’d tripped on the underwear around his ankles, because ithadbeen a good night, but the balls hadn’t helped things when it all went south.
“Can’t be,” Billy murmured, and he aligned himself against Sean’s back very carefully. “You are not that clumsy.”
“You’re missing the point,” Sean told him, simply falling into his warmth, his strength. Even his doubt was comforting.
“Which is?”
“You’re the only person I’ve told that to,” he said softly. “My entire academy class thought I was a badass. You know I’m just an ass.”
Billy snuggled a little more closely and all but purred in his ear. “Still a badass,” he said, and then he hummed the AC/DC song in his ear, the one about having the biggest balls, and Sean laughed softly before falling completely asleep.
What Heroes Do
“ARE YOUsure you’re not walking too far?” Billy hated nagging, but that relapse in which Sean had ended up back in the hospital seemed to weigh around his neck like an anchor. “This is way longer than your usual soccer field gig.”
Sean nodded, but he didn’t say anything, probably because he was working on not losing his wind. The weather had taken a blessed turn—there was hope for a little bit of rain to rinse them all off, and Billy was super grateful at the same time he’d started looking up lung ailments to make sure there wasnot a repeatof the hospital thing.
“We need,” breath, “to check out,” breath, “these houses.”
“Stop,” Billy told him, slamming his feet together military style. “Just stop right there. Catch your breath. That’s an order.”
Sean arched an eyebrow at him, but hey! Until he could talk, he didn’t get totalk back.
“Besides, you’re not working smarter. Look.” Billy had stopped them at the end of the walkthrough from the cul-de-sac to the park. “See? You can see the main road right there, right?”
Sean nodded, so Billy went on.
“Now see? You’ve got the list of hits in your paper. There were two houses in this cul-de-sac.” Billy frowned. “They… look. They’re the one to the left and the right of the walkthrough. That’sweird. Do you think that’s on purpose?”
Sean shrugged and held out his hand, wobbling it from one side to the other. Maybe yes, maybe no. Then he gave Billy a meaningful look and nodded up toward the main road.
Only one way to find out. But first they needed to interview the victims. Billy had seen him dust off his badge case, hoping nobody saw the Homicide Division inscription on the bottom of the badge. According to Sean, badge numbers, people checked.Divisionspeople usually weren’t too excited about. And Billy got that they didn’t want to scare anyone.
“Ooh,” Billy said as they both went for the house on their left. “Can I be your partner? Can I say ‘Book ’em, Danno’? Do I get handcuffs?”
Sean paused to stare at him, his dead-on seriousness completely endearing. “Technically we’re domestic partners, but don’t let that freak you out. No, you can’t say ‘Book ’em, Danno’ because neither of us are named Danno and youhatethat show. And no handcuffs because I don’t do kink.”
Billy snorted. “Says you. Domestic partners don’t keep saying, ‘but you can sleep in your own room,’ and give me a month—we’ll be doing the kink.”
Sean’s flush did not disappoint. How this boy managed to pass himself off as a badass would forever be a puzzle, given the way his entire body turned pink when he was embarrassed. “God, you suck.”
Billy smirked. “I do. But you haven’t experienced it yet, so don’t judge.”