Imaginary Friend

AN: Sorry guys! I kinda forgot to upload the next chapter. Don't hate me. Oh well, here it is now, and I'll put another one up in another couple days.



Abel blinked back at him. “Do? What do you want to do?”

Quirking one brow, Jacob snickered. “No no, I asked you what you want to do.”

“What do you want to do?”

Jacob frowned slightly. “No, what do you want to do?”

“What do you want to do?”

“Not me, you, what do you want to do?!”

“What do-?”

“Abel!” Jacob grunted. “Enough!” He sighed and gripped Abel's hands with his own, slowly stroking those palms with his fingers. “Listen carefully, okay?”

Abel nodded, eyes wide, but filled with surprise, not fear.

“We can do anything today. Anything! Now...What do you, you Abel, want to do?”

There was a moment of hesitant silence, and Jacob knew what Abel was going to say even before he said it.

“What do you want to do?.” Abel said slowly, as if speaking to a child.

Fighting back a groan of frustration, Jacob pulled back his hands and dropped his head into them, taking a deep breath before looking back up into Abel's sweetly puzzled eyes.

“Okay, we're not getting anywhere with this, so I'm just going to get us started. Then later, if you feel any pressing need or wish, let me know, and we'll do that instead.”

“Jacob, I...” Abel started haltingly, trailing off in confusion. “What do you mean? By me feeling a need, I don't...” He shrugged, words failing him again.

“What do you mean?” Jacob tried, not really understanding the problem.

Frowning at his hands for a moment, Abel attempted to gather his thoughts. “If...” He looked up, struggle clear in his face. “If you wish...to do something...then why, why would...I...? I think...I-I think, you must do whatever you want.”

“But, I'm letting you decide. You.” Jacob lightly poked at Abel's chest, lingering momentarily. “You have the choice.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. Are you just unsure because...you've never had a choice before?”

Abel looked pensive, but nodded. “I've never had a choice. I've had your choice.”

That was sort of sad. Jacob wondered briefly what it must have been like to go through life with someone else choosing everything for you. But, he could easily fix that. “Well, starting today, you aren't the same Abel anymore. You've got freedom now!” He bubbled excitedly, grabbing Abel's hands again. “You can do whatever you want to do, regardless of what I do. If you wanted to watch television, or go out, or...”

Jacob trailed off at the horrified expression on Abel's face.

“What's wrong? Don't you want to go out? Explore?”

Shaking his head vehemently, Abel clung back to Jacob's hands. “No! Not a place where you aren't at!”

“Okay, it's alright, I'm not going anywhere.” Jacob soothed, pulling Abel close again and wrapping one arm around his back. “We won't get into all that again right now. I didn't necessarily say you'd be going out on you own.”

Abel shuddered against him.

“I'd go with you, but what I meant was, we'd go to a place of your choosing. Like, are there any places you liked more than others when you were my...uh, phantom?” Jacob still wasn't entirely sure what to refer to Abel as, pre human body. But 'phantom' was as good a word as any to use. Somewhat romantic even.

Abel was thinking. And after a long moment, he smiled shyly, averting his eyes. “I like when you sleep in your bed. I like to watch you.” That smile faded somewhat though and Abel looked up and whined. “I didn't get to watch you sleep last night.”

That wasn't exactly what Jacob had meant by...But, well, oh whatever, now he was blushing. Abel liked to...

He certainly was a voyeur.

Then again, what else would he have done to pass the time? A whole new world of possibilities suddenly opened up to Jacob. All the things he could show Abel, places, events, things they could share. They could go on trips, and share new experiences together.

“Also...”

Jacob bounced back to reality when he heard Abel's tentative voice again.

“...I liked to go driving.”

Jacob perked at that. “Driving? You like to go on drives?” That was certainly something he could work with. “Would you like to go out later today?”

Abel's gaze rose up and connected with Jacob's eyes, not answering at first. But he seemed to realize that he had to answer and gasped, cautiously nodding. “Yes. Yes, I would like that.”

“Okay then! We'll do that.”

The look on Abel's face was priceless. Almost like he'd just done something unbelievable.

“Just like that?” He asked, like the words were unclear.

“Yeah, you said you wanted to go, so we'll go. Good?”

Abel was speechless at first. All he did was drop his forehead down to touch lightly on Jacob's collarbone. “Good. Yes.”

With a smile, Jacob pet down his back, a habit he was quickly developing that seemed to calm his skittish lover and also seemed to do him good as well. His fingertips lightly brushing down Abel's smooth warm skin. His smooth warm naked skin.

“Uhh...” All movements stopped as Jacob realized while he was fully dressed, Abel was still as naked as the day he'd been born.

Or rather, since last night. Those thoughts were mostly the same anyway.

“How about the first thing we do is get you some clothes. I think that'd be good.” Parts of Jacob seemed to suddenly take interest in the warm naked body nestled against him. “Uh...very good.”

Before things descended into sex again, Jacob pulled back from Abel, snickering when Abel didn't let go and was dragged a few inches down the bed. He gave that worried face a reassuring grin, then stood, back stepping to his dresser, and he opened his top drawer. Inside were numerous pairs of underwear, various types and colors, and Jacob settled on a plain pair of soft cotton briefs. It was best to start simple.

“Here, try these on.” He threw the underwear to the bed and turned back to his drawers, pulling open the next one down. “I think just a t-shirt and some sweatpants would be good. Jeans might be too rough on your skin. And anything with buttons might be too complicated.” He paused. “Not that I'm saying you're not capable of doing it. But,” He laughed self-deprecatingly. “I even have trouble with buttons sometimes. And you've never done it before, so...Wait.” He turned around.

Abel was sitting on the bed, where Jacob had left him, staring at him and obviously listening with great interest to his words, but otherwise not doing anything.

“Do you know how to get dressed?” He asked, motioning to the underwear laying near him.

Abel just stared back at him blankly.

Jacob sighed. He kept forgetting all the little things Abel would have to learn. Though, since he'd already seen all of it, once Abel had done something once, he'd most likely never have to be shown again. But, there were a lot of first they needed to take care of.

Returning to the bed, Jacob picked up the briefs, holding them out to Abel cautiously. “You want me to help you?”

But Abel just stared at the offered white cotton, still uncomprehending. He didn't seem to realize what Jacob wanted him to do.

So, instead of slowly learning to swim, Jacob shoved Abel right into the water, grabbing one of Abel's hands with his free hand and slapping the underwear into his open palm, making sure it caught hold of his fingers. Then, he stood up straight and waited.

It only took a minute. Abel stared at his raised hand and the underwear in it for about three seconds of silence before his eyes opened comically wide. His whole arm began to shake and his breathing picked up as he must have realize for the first time he was holding something.

Well, other than Jacob.

Jacob watched the intricate play of emotions race over Abel's face as he realized what he was doing. It was quite amusing actually. And complete endearing.

First was disbelief, like the hand holding up the underwear wasn't attached to the rest of his body. Then there was shock, and a gentle shake to that arm, a subtle tightening of those slim fingers around the white cloth. Acceptance was brief and quick, lighting up Abel's whole face. And last, came wonder mixed with glee. Abel still wouldn't move the small article of clothing any closer to his body, but he looked dangerously excited just to see his hand performing that simple function.

Jacob hoped he didn't pass out or anything. It would ruin the moment.

Quietly, so as not to shatter Abel's wonder, Jacob knelt down on the bed, reaching up carefully to capture Abel's hand and enclose it in his own. He brought their hands towards Abel's chest, smiling. Nothing needed to be said. They both knew what was happening. What Abel was feeling.

Instead, Jacob kept his smile and took hold of the underwear, pulling it out of Abel's hand and scooting down the bed, holding it so Abel could warily stick one leg in to the opening and then the next. He let go after that, prompting Abel with his eyes to finish the job.

It was full of reluctance and awkward trembles, but Abel managed to reach down and pull the briefs up the rest of the way, over his groin and finally hiding himself from view.

Jacob released a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. “Well...That's good.” Being near naked Abel had been harder than he'd realized. “Ready for more?”

But Abel was once again lost in his wonder. He lay stunned, fingers still hooked in the waistband of his underwear and eyes unblinking. A turbulent smile graced his lips and he was staring dazedly at the ceiling.

“Do you need a minute?” Jacob asked, chuckling.

Abel glanced over, blinking. “What?”

“Nothing.” He snickered, going back to the drawers and pulling out a worn shirt and then a pair of sweatpants. They were slightly too short for him, though extremely comfortable. He never wore them in public anyway, only used them for naps on the weekends, when all he wanted was too relax. Abel was actually a few inches shorter than him, so the pants should fit quite nicely.

Turning back to Abel, Jacob wasn't surprised to find himself being watched again. He was growing quite used to this continuous attention. True, he'd been watched by Abel for his whole life apparently, but now being a conscious accidental exhibitionist, he found he liked it.

Liked Abel studying his each and every motion. With those eyes following his movements, filled with reverence and interest, Jacob felt like some sort of celebrity.

He'd never had someone be interested in his daily tasks. Never had someone watch with fascination as he chose a pair of socks.

He chose a big fluffy white pair for Abel. Basically, he wanted to make the poor male completely indulged. Wanted him to fall in love with clothes. For two reasons. One being that fact that Abel very well couldn't walk around naked for the rest of his life. And two being that Jacob wanted to look at Abel as much as he could, but he couldn't deal with all the nudity. It made him aroused.

And though the sex was always amazing, Jacob didn't want this to be a strictly sexual relationship. Abel was given a body for a reason, maybe even just to be with him, and Jacob wasn't going to let it go to waste.

He brought all the clothing he'd selected over to the bed and then he helped Abel to dress, loving each small gasp and breathy whimper that the textures elicited from Abel's mouth. The best part was when he pulled his t-shirt over Abel's head and Abel ended up with his hair all mussed and falling over his eyes. He was looking at Jacob too, a wide smile on his face and too many things unsaid in his eyes.

There was such gratitude shining in those deep brown orbs. Gratitude and adoration all aimed directly as him, and he couldn't keep the blush from heating his cheeks. Such intense affection made him nervous, but also, so warm inside that he felt like melting.

Alright, part one was done. He'd gotten Abel into clothes. Now, since he'd skipped breakfast, maybe he should just make lunch. Another thought struck him. Abel probably had never eaten either. No, he definitely hadn't.

“Are you hungry, Abel?”

Of course, there was the creasing of the brow, and a confused frown, but over that, Jacob heard the distinct sudden ravenous rumble of a hungry tummy.

Abel's tummy.


TO BE CONTINUED