The next day of training began under the same sterile fluorescent lights of the Freshway break room, but the energy felt different. Cody arrived early with his crisp green polo shirt immaculate and his posture ready to face the day. He made extra sure to bring his umbrella since a front was coming in later that day. He was determined to excel and prove to himself and to everyone else that this job, this entire summer, was just another item on his checklist of accomplishments to be mastered.
Cody started to feel that familiar tightness return to his stomach as the clock inched closer to its final destination. He was dreading the new day and the new ways that Jason would pick at him, talk about his apparently large number of conquests that may or may not be real, or press the warmth of his body up against him.
That.
He did not want that.
Jason arrived a minute earlier than class was going to start, which was a stark contrast to his previous tardiness. He was quiet, and the usual swagger he displayed was replaced by a neutral, almost subdued demeanor. He nodded at Cody and took a seat at the opposite end of the scarred laminate table.
What was that? No “Hey PG.” No teasing. No suggestive remark. WTF?!
Cody’s train of confused thought was abruptly interrupted by Debbie entering the room with the energy of someone about to plan D-Day.
“Alright team! We have a busy day to wrap up training and get you graduated today. Before we finish training, we had a great first day and I am happy with the progress each of you have made. I am especially proud of Jason and Cody, who did a fantastic job bagging their groceries yesterday and were the only team I had no notes for. They really embody the ‘Freshway’ way of doing things. Let’s give them a hand.”
Cody smiled among the halfhearted claps from the team.
In spite of yesterday, with the distractions Jason tried to put on him, they were still able to come out on top of the other members. He could feel his cheeks warm with pride at the work that he and Jason did yesterday. He looked back to catch a look at Jason, but he seemed off. The normal sparkle in his deep blue eyes just seemed to be hiding today.
Something is off.
Yesterday, Jason’s presence had been irritating and reckless, making every part of Cody’s body burn with frustration. Today, there was nothing. Jason was just… there.
They did another round of bagging in the same spot as yesterday. Cody performed the tasks competently, his hands moving with practiced ease, but Jason didn’t brush against him, didn’t lean in too close, and didn’t offer any of his infuriating, suggestive remarks.
It was like Cody was a stranger.
Sure, Jason mentioned where items go and once asked him which aisle the rice was on. But none of the danger that was there yesterday.
Why is he doing this? Why is he acting like I’m not here?
The class watched more videos, did more paperwork, and then started to play “Freshway Jeopardy” to practice before a written test to make sure they learned everything. Everyone separated into their teams of four, and each team helped answer the questions.
This time Jason was separated from Cody, and to him the training became quieter. More relaxed. Still, the anxiety inside him returned.
As they played, Jason was the one answering, getting the questions right just as much as Cody.
Then it happened.
This was the year that Freshway first opened a store in Texas.
Cody’s mind went blank.
BUZZ.
Then he heard that familiar voice.
“What is 1987!”
Jason had won the game for his team. He and the team gave each other high fives and celebrated with unbridled cheer.
Cody was not. Cody had lost and felt his ears turn red hot with anger. The more Jason interacted and patted his teammates on the back, the angrier he got. Jason was ignoring him.
Cody found himself silently engaged in his confusion. It was a ridiculous, infuriating feeling. He should be relieved. This was what he wanted: Jason behaving, leaving him alone. So why did the silence feel so loud? Why did he find his gaze drifting over to Jason, watching the way his t-shirt stretched across his shoulders as he lifted a bag of potatoes?
This was control. He was in charge of his reactions, and he would not let Jason’s subtlety derail him. He channeled the frustration into his performance, becoming even more meticulous, even more of a model trainee. Debbie noticed, her praise making his chest swell with a familiar, satisfying pride.
But the annoyance festered throughout the day. It was a low-grade hum under his skin, a constant reminder of the unpredictable element Jason represented.
During the afternoon break, Cody finally snapped. He saw Jason heading for the break room, and a surge of something hot and unresolved propelled him forward. He pushed through the door just as Jason was reaching for the coffee machine. The room was empty, the air thick with the scent of stale coffee and burnt popcorn.
“What is your problem?” Cody’s voice was sharper than he intended, echoing in the small space.
Jason turned slowly, a coffee pod in his hand. He raised an eyebrow, his expression unreadable.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re not talking to me. Why?” Cody said, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. “You’re not… doing what you did yesterday. And it’s worse. Why are you bothering me? Just leave me alone.”
A small smile touched Jason’s lips. He placed the pod in the machine and pressed a button, the quiet gurgle filling the tense silence.
“Hey, I need this job too, you know. My dad’s been riding me about getting a summer gig. I’m just trying to keep my head down and not get fired.”
“So yesterday was just what? A game for you?” Cody shot back, his voice rising.
“Whoa. Not sure where this is coming from. Yesterday was me being me,” Jason said, turning to face him fully. He leaned against the counter, his posture deceptively relaxed. “Look, Cody. You’re wound so tight you’re going to snap. You should try letting loose and actually have fun for once.”
Cody felt a hot flush of shame and anger creep up his neck.
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“I know you live like you’re bracing for impact,” Jason said, his voice dropping to a low murmur that made the hairs on Cody’s arms stand up. “Like if you stay tight enough, nothing can touch you. But your body tells a different story.”
Cody’s heart slammed against his ribs. He could smell the faint, clean scent of Jason’s soap, see that dark shade of blue in his eyes. For a terrifying second, he wanted to say yes. He wanted to see what Jason meant by “fun.” But the disciplined part of him, the part that had been honed by years of tennis practice and parental expectations, screamed in protest.
“Fuck you,” Cody whispered.
He turned and stormed out.
Outside, the sky had opened.
Rain hammered the parking lot in a deafening downpour.
Cody ran for his aging sedan, fumbling with his keys as he slid into the driver’s seat.
He turned the ignition.
Nothing.
He tried again.
Click. Click. Click.
“No, no, no,” he muttered.
Of all the days for his car to die, it had to be during a monsoon.
Just as he reached for his phone, headlights swept across his windshield.
A sleek black car pulled up beside him.
The passenger window lowered.
Jason leaned across the seat.
“Car trouble, princess?”
Cody gritted his teeth.
“It won’t start.”
Jason nodded toward the storm.
“Great timing. I’ve got jumper cables. When the rain slows down, I’ll give you a jump. Why don’t you get in?”
Cody hesitated.
Accepting help from Jason felt… complicated.
But calling his dad would mean a lecture.
“Fine.”
“Get in,” Jason said, almost urgently. “You’ll get soaked out there.”
Cody grabbed his bag and sprinted through the rain.
He slid into the passenger seat.
Silence settled between them.
Rain drummed against the roof.
“Hey,” Cody said finally. “About earlier… I’m sorry I exploded.”
Jason sighed.
“I found something out yesterday,” he said. “Just put me in a shitty mood.”
Cody felt a stab of guilt.
“Oh. I’m sorry.”
Jason glanced at his phone.
“Radar says this storm’s not moving anytime soon. We’ve got about twenty minutes.”
“Great,” Cody muttered.
Jason watched him.
“We could think of a couple ways to kill time.”
“Jason.”
Jason tilted his head.
“Then what are you trying to do?”
Cody swallowed and sat in silence. He wanted to ask something, but despite the abundance of rain pelting the car, his mouth felt completely dry.
“Jason… I’ve always wanted to ask. Why is everything always about sex?”
Jason studied him.
“We’re eighteen, Cody. We’re not monks. We’re gay men in the prime of our lives. Why not see what’s out there to do?”
Cody’s jaw flexed.
Jason turned in his seat to face him.
“You don’t figure yourself out by pretending you don’t feel anything.”
“You reacted yesterday,” Jason said.
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“It means it wasn’t just me.”
Jason leaned closer.
“You don’t get to pretend I made that happen.”
Cody folded his arms.
“You’re the one pushing.”
“I am,” Jason admitted. “Because you want me to.”
Cody turned toward him.
“You don’t know what I want.”
Jason held his gaze.
“I know what I saw.”
A pause as he moved forward.
“And I know what I felt.”
Something flickered across Cody’s face.
Jason saw it.
“You want it,” he murmured.
“You just don’t like that I know.”
Cody opened his mouth slowly to find the right words.
Jason moved.
He grabbed the front of Cody’s shirt and pulled him across the console.
Their lips crashed together.Cody’s body responded before his brain could catch up. A jolt of pure, unadulterated lust shot through him, setting every nerve ending on fire. He could taste the mint on Jason’s tongue and feel the scrape of his stubble against his chin. His hands, finally finding a place to land, gripped Jason’s arms, feeling the solid, hard muscle beneath the thin fabric of his t-shirt.
A low groan rumbled in Jason’s chest, a sound of pure satisfaction, as if he’d been waiting for this very moment.
Jason pulled back just enough to speak, his lips brushing against Cody’s, his voice a low, husky growl.
“See? That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Cody could only shake his head, his breath coming in ragged pants. He was completely undone, his carefully constructed composure shattered into a million pieces.
Jason’s gaze dropped to Cody’s lap, where a very obvious, very hard erection strained against the fabric of his shorts. A slow, predatory grin spread across Jason’s face.
“Well, well,” he murmured. “Looks like someone’s finally waking up.”
He didn’t wait for a response.
With a fluid, practiced motion, he unfastened Cody’s seatbelt and then his own, giving himself more room. His hand went to Cody’s zipper, pulling it down with agonizing slowness.
Cody’s hips bucked involuntarily, a silent plea for more.
Jason chuckled, a low, dirty sound that sent shivers down Cody’s spine. He hooked his fingers into the waistband of Cody’s shorts and boxers, tugging them down just enough to free his cock.
Cody’s dick sprang out, hard and flushed and already leaking pre-cum. He swore he’d never been this hard in his life, never felt this desperate, this exposed.
Jason’s eyes widened slightly, a flicker of genuine surprise and appreciation in their depths.
“Fuck, Cody,” he breathed, his voice thick with awe. “You’ve been hiding this monster?”
A blush of shame and pride burned Cody’s cheeks. He’d always been on the larger side, but hearing Jason say it and seeing the raw hunger in his eyes was something else entirely.
Jason leaned down, his hot breath ghosting over the sensitive head of Cody’s cock. He looked up at Cody, blue eyes dark with lust, and then he took him into his mouth.
Cody’s entire world narrowed to the wet, searing heat of Jason’s mouth.
He cried out, his head falling back against the plush leather of the seat as Jason’s lips slid down his shaft. It was nothing like his clumsy, furtive experiments in the shower.
Jason’s tongue was a whirlwind of sensation, swirling around the head, tracing the thick vein on the underside, lapping at the pre-cum that was now flowing freely. He took his time, teasing and tormenting, building the pressure to an almost unbearable level.
And then he did something that made Cody’s vision white out.
He took a deep breath and swallowed, his nose pressing into the neat, trimmed hair at the base of Cody’s cock.
He’d taken him all the way in.
He was deep-throating him.
Cody’s hands flew to Jason’s hair, his fingers tangling in the messy blonde waves. He couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe—he could only feel.
The tight, constricting heat of Jason’s throat.
The wet, obscene sounds as he bobbed his head.
The way his hands came up to cup and massage Cody’s balls.
It was too much.
It was everything.
“Jason,” Cody gasped, his voice ragged. “I’m… I’m gonna…”
Jason just hummed, the vibrations sending a final, devastating jolt through Cody’s body.
The orgasm ripped through him with the force of a tidal wave. He cried out, his back arching off the seat as he came, pouring himself down Jason’s throat in long, powerful spurts.
Jason stayed with him, swallowing every drop, his throat working convulsively around Cody’s sensitive, pulsing cock.
When it was over, Cody collapsed against the seat, boneless and shaking. He felt completely and utterly wrecked, his mind a blissful, empty void.
Jason slowly pulled back, releasing Cody’s softening cock with a soft, wet pop.
He sat up, wiping a glistening strand of cum from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.
He looked impossibly smug.
Cody sat there trying to catch his breath. Jason tucked him back into his shorts with surprising gentleness. As Jason sat up, he paused, his lips lingering just inches from Cody’s.
Cody hovered there too, like he almost wanted to taste more of Jason.
Jason finally wiped his mouth and leaned back casually.
“Told you I could help you out.”
The rain outside had softened to a steady drizzle.
“Alright,” Jason said. “Let’s get your car started.”
Minutes later, Cody’s engine roared back to life.
Jason returned to Cody’s window, rain dripping from his hair.
“There you go,” he said.
Cody stood there quiet and akward
Then he added quietly:
“Relax man. It was just a blowjob.”
He turned and walked back to his car.
Cody sat there in the driver’s seat of his now-running sedan, the scent of Jason and the memory of what had just happened still clinging to him.
That night Cody lay in bed replaying everything.
The fight.
The storm.
The kiss.
Jason’s mouth.
Jason’s voice.
Jason.
He groaned and rolled onto his side.
He was hard again.
He wrapped a hand around himself, his mind filled with one image.
Jason.
Only Jason.
He remembered the heat of Jason’s mouth.
The sound of his own voice saying Jason’s name.
He came again with a strangled cry.
Afterward he lay there, breathless, staring at the ceiling.
Jason could talk about sex.
He could perform it with terrifying confidence.
But he couldn’t talk about the things that actually mattered.
Family.
Feelings.
Anything real.
All of that stayed locked behind a wall of smirks and deflection.
Cody didn’t know whether he hated Jason…
or wanted him again.
Previous Chapter → Chapter 2
Next Chapter → Chapter 4 *Coming Soon*
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I like that you are exploring two different clashing, yet probably, eventually, with compromise and toleration, compatible, personalities. I hope you can keep them both in character. Please - never tell us what Jason thinks. Only from Cody's pov. How opposites attract can be some deep ore to mine - if done carefully, thoughtfully. Thanks!