“Why, Thomas Burns, is this an Actual Date?” said Karl.

Burns tried his hardest not to wince at that. “I figured, this is a big deal, right, first day on the job, maybe I should take you out.”

They were on the highway into the city. No parents, no preachers, no anything. The further away from Cray’s Quarry they got, the more Burns could relax about being with Karl, the more he could enjoy a night out. In theory, anyway.

“Where are we going?” said Karl.

“I thought we could French things up at Les Fromages. That seems pretty fancy, right?”

“Ugh, if you don’t mind bad labor practices. You know they keep their staff’s tips? Lots of unpaid overtime too. There was a big story about it in the paper a few months ago.”

Burns blinked. “Okay…what about steak? We could go to Wild Buck’s?”

“Are you kidding? Buck Hinsdale was caught illegally dumping restaurant waste last summer. I heard he’s still doing it.”

His hands tightened on the steering wheel. He slowed the car, pulling over onto the shoulder.

“Dude,” Burns said, “are you mad at me?”

Karl turned to him. “Why would I be mad, Burns?”

“I don’t know. But there’s something in your voice.”

“First day jitters from the job, I guess.”

“That’s all it is? You’re sure? Because you seem a little upset.”

Now Karl turned his head and stared out the dark passenger side window. “Everything is fine.”

“Oh, man, that’s the last thing I want to hear. Something’s going on. I don’t know where I stand with you.”

Karl lifted a finger, traced a pattern on the window. “You stand in the same place you always do. Always and forever the same.”

“See? That. That right there. You’re not talking to me. Which means you think I did something wrong. Dude, I like you so much, but this is the problem with you, we can’t even go grab dinner without your beliefs getting in the way.”

“My beliefs are the problem?” said Karl. “I think you’ve got that backwards. My belief is that there’s nothing wrong with us having a relationship, and that it’s the best news ever, and we should tell the world. It’s your beliefs, or your parents’, whatever, that are causing tension here.”

“That’s not true, and you know it,” said Burns. He threw the car into park and shut it off. “This has nothing to do with what my parents believe. I told you I would tell them, and I will, in my own time. But you can’t handle that, because it doesn’t fit into your picture of the world. Because you’re not getting your way. Dude, you’re just as doctrinaire as my folks are, admit it.”

Karl shook his head. “Where the hell did that come from? You honestly think the thing that is hurting you right now is my belief that you being gay is fine?”

“No, it’s your belief that I have to tell everyone! That I’m doing something wrong if I don’t! If you’d just leave me alone about it, I could be fine!”

This wasn’t how he had meant things to go. Really, it wasn’t. He’d wanted to go out with Karl, to have time alone with him, far away from prying eyes and the opinions of people he knew. He wanted to enjoy his company, and then…who knows, maybe even go further with him. Even now, when the discussion had taken a wrong turn, Karl excited him, and if he had asked Burns to strip down right now and do it on the hood of the car, he probably would have agreed.

That wasn’t going to happen, of course. Karl looked pissed.

“Look, I’m sorry, I don’t want to fight,” Burns said.

“You’ve got a funny way of showing it.”

“Seriously. Don’t you understand, I have nobody else in my life I can talk to about any of this? There isn’t a single person I can confide in. You’re it, man.”

“But that sucks! If I’m the only person you can trust with a fundamental fact of your life, doesn’t that prove something is wrong in your life? Dude, I can’t just be your little secret!”

“Do you want me to take you home?”

“No! No, I don’t know what I want! I want a normal boyfriend who loves me, who will hold my hand in public without flinching, who has parents who disapprove of me because I’m not good enough for you, not because I’m the wrong gender!”

“I promise you, I’m going to tell them.”

“But you wouldn’t even tell them that you wanted to move in with me. Every time you get close, the fucking reverend somehow throws a wrench into it. What, does he have your house bugged or something?”

“Give me time.”

“Time for more secrets? Time to go out with Delia again behind my back?”

“Oh my god, you can’t possibly think Delia means anything to me! These weren’t dates! You are misunderstanding on purpose!”

“I didn’t say they were dates. But you have been damned hesitant to tell me about them.”

“You say it like I was cheating.”

Karl shook his head. “No, now you’re the one purposefully misunderstanding. I don’t for a minute suspect you like her. But you’re being secretive, Burns, you’re being dishonest to me of all people! Your best friend! Your boyfriend! That’s what happens when you try to live a lie. The lies just pile up and up.”

Burns put his head against the steering wheel. “I’m going to solve this. I promise you, man. Just chill for a while, so I can figure things out. No more pressuring me. No more judging me, or my parents, just for a while.”

“It’s not about judging—”

“Promise me!”

Karl sighed. “Fine. Okay. I won’t bring it up. But you have to figure this out, Burns. I love you too much, to have this wall between us.”

“It wouldn’t hurt this bad, if I didn’t love you too,” said Burns.

It started as a gentle kiss, a tender let’s make peace kind of kiss. It couldn’t stay like that. Their fight had left too much unresolved energy, like making it halfway through a race, your heart pounding, your body ready to hurtle you past the finish line, but you stop halfway through, your legs aching to keep going.

Burns had never realized the energy of anger could turn into passion. So much to learn. Karl at his throat now, kissing, his hot breath against Burns’ skin.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” whispered Burns, but Karl shushed him with another kiss. Karl’s hands were down there, pulling open Burns’ pants, tugging out his still-soft cock, working on it.

Is he going to blow me in the car? Other cars passed by in the darkness, their headlights offering a scant glow in the car’s interior.

A hand on the back of Burns’ neck, pulling him closer to the kiss. A hand on his cock, stroking, stroking, getting him hard. “Fuck me,” whispered Karl.

“Here? Now? But we don’t have any, I mean I didn’t bring any—”

Karl reached into his pocket and brought out several foil packets, tossing them onto the dashboard, condoms and lube.

The kiss ended as violently as it began. Karl was breathing hard, looking straight into Burns’ eyes as he grabbed rubber and ripped it open. He rolled it down, as slowly as possible, until Burns was fully covered. Then he opened one of the lube packets. He let the cold, cold fluid ooze down onto Burns’ hard shaft. Burns shivered at the sensation, then shivered more as Karl worked it over his entire latex-encased length.

“Don’t you want to wait until we—”

“Shh.”

He felt strangely helpless, watching Karl, like watching a man possessed. Karl reached down, shedding his shoes, his pants, his briefs.

The back of the driver’s seat was in the way, and Burns reached down to recline it. He couldn’t believe what was happening. Watching Karl straddle him, he almost came at once, without anything touching his cock at all. The assurance with which Karl lowered himself. The way he clenched the head of Burns’ cock between his ass-cheeks. Every move he made enticed Burns further, made him want to grab Karl’s hips and pull him straight down, plunging his cock into Karl’s ass.

He didn’t have to do a thing. He realized that at this moment it was important for Karl to be in total control…and he realized, too, how much he wanted that. How could it be any other way? Karl was the one with experience (said his jealous mind), the one with the knowledge, and the assurance that he knew exactly what he was doing.

Oh, he knew all right. Whatever anger had been building up inside Burns as Karl asked him these impossible things, couldn’t withstand the onslaught.

Karl had one hand on the grab handle above the driver-side door, another on the passenger seat, and with inexorable slowness sunk down onto Burns.

Burns gasped and moaned, feeling the tightness of Karl’s ass around him. Karl’s face was lit by approaching headlights, his look of serious concentration disappearing into shadow as cars passed.

It was something Burns had simply never felt. Something he had imagined a thousand times over, head on a lonely pillow, his hand substituting for the man he could hardly dare to let himself dream of. Karl, sliding all the way down on him, was the fulfillment of this ancient dream, and it erased all other thoughts from his mind. He forgave everything. He forgot everything. Nothing mattered but the way Karl rolled his hips, causing Burns to twist in anguished pleasure underneath him.

He wished they were naked. Wanted to see Karl’s chest bathed in sweat, captured in sunlight, to see his face rapt and lost in pleasure, not just these glimpses as the world drove by.

Karl’s cock bounced in the darkness, as his fucking grew faster. Burns reached for it, stroked it. Karl was so hard, and it meant something to Burns, it was like an important message, he’s hard for you, he’s hard because of you, this is how important you are to him, and he wished he could reach it with his mouth, wished he could suck and be fucked at the same time.

Then there was no time for wishing. Karl was going too fast, too hard, and it forced out all thought. There was nothing left but the sensation of his ass plunging down, Burns’ cock buried deep inside him, and then that strange premonition, maybe something in the balls, maybe it was somewhere else, that he was about to come, and then he cried out in the narrow confines of the car, thrust his hips up, his orgasm wracking him as Karl sunk down and squeezed, his cock shooting its load up into Karl, into the latex, into the shadows.