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James let himself fall into the next free seat, still breathing heavily as he removed his dark blue scarf and placed it into his lap. His fingers absentmindedly went through his snow-soaked hair and he took off his wet hat, silently cursing when cold water dripped onto his pair of jeans. Fortunately, despite having to rush, he had made it to the train in time and even claimed a place to spend his three hour ride to Chicago. He still had a hoarse voice from having to sprint, but wasn’t as breathless as he had been before.
After sorting his thoughts he straightened and cleared his throat, looking around.
The other passengers occupied nearly every seat, some seemingly thinking that their backpack needed an extra spot to sit in. Selfish, James thought to himself and shook his head before turning to his own neighbor, who he hadn’t really took notice of when he had entered the filled train.
The man next to him probably hadn’t noticed him either, though, according to his distracted gaze out of the window. His head slightly swayed to the beat of Marvin Gaye’s voice that was quietly ringing out of his headphones, going unnoticed by everyone except for James, who was, after all, only centimeters away from the stranger. A smile tugged on his lips and he recalled how the musician‘s soul music had helped him feel less stressful in numerous situations, too.
James also took note of the man’s lip-sincing. Indeed, the young adult made his unnoticed audience chuckle softly as he mouthed every line of the song that was playing.
The brunette must have laughed too loud, because the unknown man’s dark eyes immediately flew open and he turned to face him, his eyebrow raising as an embarrassed expression took over his face.
He unlocked his mobile phone to pause the song - What’s going on, James noted, the name glowing at him from the stranger’s screen - and pulled his headphones off.
James instantly regretted his unintentional laugh, not having intended to mock the guy, and gave him a sincere look, already opening his mouth to form an apology. However the… now that he thought about it, pretty hot stranger came to word before him, a welcoming yet somehow self assured smirk sliding on his face.
„Sorry, didn’t want to bother you. Reckon you’re not a big fan of Marvin Gaye?“
Both the wrong accusation and the attractiveness of the man in front of him caused James to flush. After a moment of struggling to find his voice, he quickly shook his head and blurted: „I like Marvin Gaye.“
„Nobody likes Marvin Gaye, you’ve gotta love him, man. Still, sorry if I interrupted your intense staring at me“, the young adult casually said, the faked innocence given away by his mischievously twinkling eyes.
James cheeks turned even warmer and he scoffed, beginning to stutter: „Wha- no, I wasn’t- I was just…“
His pathetic excuse was luckily interrupted by the guy‘s laughter, his shoulders shaking in amusement. "I'm just playing with you, man," he said to him after he was done giggling. „I’m Sam“, he then added and held out a hand which James thankfully shook.
„James.“
„Now, if you don’t mind I’d like to listen to the worlds greatest artist“, Sam told him, a polite smile spreading over his lips.
James snorted and muttered: „Good luck with that.“
The man shot a quick, lingering grin at him before plugging his AirPods into his ears and turning around again. The brunette sank into his seat a bit, praying that the other would forget their humiliating encounter.
Spoiler alert; he didn’t.
Leaning against the cold tinted window glass, Sam grinned to himself as Marvin Gaye's calming voice filled his chest with warmth. That James guy seemed like a decent person, a little shy, but cute.
Wait. What?
The man paused in his tracks, gently turning to spy on his neighbor. Yeah, okay, he was cute.
The other was scanning the wagon with his baby-blue eyes and running through his hair for the second time, not that Sam was counting. It did look soft, though, and Stop! Nope, not doing that, not now.
He blinked and quickly looked away again, realizing with shame that his face was warming up.
Of course he of all people would get a crush on some random, one hundred percent straight guy who was just minding his own business. It was stupid, really.
Sarah would agree. Speaking of her, she was the reason he had to travel all the way here only to have his second plane canceled, forcing him to take this train and sit here for 7 hours. Seven. Fucking. Hours. Honestly, Marvin Gaye was the only thing that kept him alive him at this point. Anyway, tomorrow was her wedding with this guy named Mike.
He was quite entertaining, so Sam was excited to meet him and his sister after being apart for five months. So he’d packed his bag and ironed his favorite suit before stuffing it into his suitcase, which nearly exploded. Sam wasn't even exaggerating!
The only thing that he wasn’t looking forward to was that he was probably going to be the only one without a date, what was embarrassing enough. And somehow, it could get even worse; He wasn’t outed yet, and always had to come up with a new excuse why he wouldn’t date one of Sarah’s smoking hot friends. Either she didn’t think about it that way, or she wanted to tease him.
He’s sure that she’ll try to hook him up with somebody or someone would come to him and ask him herself, which would make things even more awkward.
But the Horror would be over in 42 hours, he reminded himself, and shifted so that his face was pushed against the train wall and the stranger, James, could only see his back.
The song „What’s going on“ distantly continued playing.
Mother, mother, everybody thinks we’re wrong
Even though the music was funky, Sam faintly noticed his eyelids getting heavy. It didn’t really matter anyway, he was already sitting here since hours so he deserved some sleep.
Oh, but who are they to judge us?
Those were the last words he heard before slowly drifting to sleep.
★彡★彡★彡
Get up, get up, get up, get up
What the hell.
Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up
„For fucks sake“, Sam groaned. His thoughts automatically wandered to his mom when she was still alive. Not because she sounded like Marvin Gaye, but rather because her voice could always rouse him even from his deepest dreams, too.
Oh, baby, now let’s get down tonight
Okay, definitely not his mom.
He quickly sat up and felt a tug in his ear, causing him to flinch violently. „What the fuck…“ His voice trailed off as he turned his head a bit to see the source of the ‚invisible string‘. His widened eyes met another pair of shocked ones and despite the extremely confusing situation he had to let out a snort before even realizing whose eyes he was looking at.
Ooh, baby, I’m hot just like an oven
James looked utterly disturbed at those lyrics and Sam only just realized that he was leaning on him.
Huh. James was a great pillow.
He wanted to pull back but then remembered… something binding them to each other. „Uh… what the fuck.“
The brunette huffed and lowered his voice with a nervous side eye to the still filled train. „You fell asleep. On me. I didn’t want to wake you. And I didn’t want to touch your stuff without your permission.“ Sam’s eyes softened at the mindful confession, then frowned in confusion.
„What do you mean, touch my stuff?“
„Oh.“ James reddened. „I mean, your phone. Or your headphones. Y‘know, the music?“
I need some lovin‘
And then it finally hit Sam.
He’d fallen asleep on James.
He was practically leaning on his goddamn lap!
With his music still playing.
And now his AirPods were…
And, baby, I can’t hold it much longer
„Are my headphones stuck in your hair?“, Sam asked while closing his eyes, already cringing at the imagination. How ridiculous would that look like for others?!
Because yes, shoulder-length hair could be very difficult in such a situation, no matter how chocolate brown and soft it may be. „…maybe.“
And when I get that feeling
He groaned and sunk into his seat even more, what ment sinking into James’ lap even more. Oh god. „Fuuuuuuck.“
„But we can get it out, wait…“
James started doing something, Sam didn’t even know what, because he couldn’t see his movements, only feel it. Probably pulling on his headphones without breaking them.
Anyway, whatever he was doing, it wasn’t really helping, more like making the situation even worse. Sam felt a jolt…
…and was suddenly nose to nose with James, who looked down at him in surprise and shock.
I want sexual healing
Sam usually didn’t get flustered quickly, but he felt his face warm up. James didn’t look better, either, though. His cheeks had filled with warmth too, and his gaze wandered somewhere else before fixing on his eyes again. „Sorry! I didn’t want to- I tried…“
„No problem, it’s fine, let’s just…“ Sam cleared his throat and raised his hands again, fumbling around at the strings of his wired headphones again.
His hands were quite shaky and sweaty while doing so, and he grasped one of the strings a little bit harder than thought. And pulled it. Hard.
Sexual healing, oh, baby
Before either of the two realized what was happening their lips touched.
Sam dropped the string out of shock and let out a startled sound, but that didn’t make him pull back. Okay, he probably should, but he just… couldn’t.
James‘ ice blue eyes were opened and looked surprised, too.
Long story short; they both just froze like a deer in headlights. One couldn’t really call what they were doing kissing, because there was no passion or anything, but it was… something.
Makes me feel so fine
After a few seconds Sam realized they should maybe do something, so, despite his dismay, he pulled back.
Or tried to.
His eyes widened even more as it hit him.
They. Were. Bound. To. Each. Other.
Literally.
James seemed to realize it, too, because he pulled, too, but it was no use.
Helps to relieve my mind
Sam lifted his hands again and pulled and pushed and fumbled around with the wires. ‚Shit‘, he mumbled, and blushed when he remembered that his lips were literally pressed to those of a stranger. The stranger stifled a chuckle - fuck, that was hot - and tried to release them too, his hands brushing against Sam’s.
Sexual healing, baby
It was no use, they just kept on tangling up even more.
James tasted like raspberry, Sam couldn’t help but notice, quickly shaking the thought away. With shaking he literally shook his head, causing his headphone to fall out of his left ear. Oh. Wait.
They pulled back at the same time, completely out of breath and panting.
James had flushed an even deeper shade of red, and yes, Sam kept repeating that in his head because James really was red. At this point Sam was sure that he must be dehydrated or really hot, like, not in that way hot, what he was, but he meant, hot hot-
„We could’ve literally just pulled out an AirPod“, James stated, his face pinched in incredulousness.
„Yeah… we’re such dumbasses“, Sam replied.
Suddenly he began to laugh, uncontrollably, so that his whole frame was shaking. James watched him for a while before joining in, breaking into fits of laughter too.
The whole train probably heard their voices, because many absurd looks were sent their way.They stilled for a second, before bursting into laughter again, even louder than before. Sam already felt tears prickling in his eyes, exhaling loudly as he wiped them away.
He then realized that he was still sitting on James’ lap, and froze.
The other just giggled again, bent down to his ear and whispered: “We can listen to the end of the song like this if you’d like to.”
And they did.
Two hours later Sam had to leave his spot because he had reached his destination; But before he jumped out of the train James slipped a note with his number into his pocket, which Sam immediately saved as soon as he stood at the train station. He then connected his head phones and listened to Marvin Gaye’s essentials, one particular song in good memory.
★彡★彡★彡
„Who’s ‚Hot guy from train‘?“
James head snapped up and he scrambled to Steve, snatching his mobile back. „Hey, don’t snoop around in my phone!“
The blond pouted, but pulled back, still eying his friend in suspicion. „So, you gonna tell me?“, he asked, his Brooklyn accent clear as day.
„No.“
„Come on, I told you about my crushes, too!“ The brunette avoided his eyes as he grumbled: „I don’t have a crush on Sam.“
Shit.
„Sam, huh?“, Steve wanted to know, a grin spreading on his face. „Tell me everything.“
„Ugh, but only if you shut up, punk.“ Steve went very still very fast.
After explaining their meeting the smaller was rolling on the floor, clutching his stomach in laughter. „That’s the best shit I’ve ever heard“, he wheezed.
„Fuck you“, James growled. „And if you say one word to Nat I’m gonna peel your skin off your bones.“ „Okay! Okay, I won’t, promise!“ James huffed, but got distracted as his phone hummed.
Hot guy from train
James, huh? Got a nickname?
★彡★彡★彡
Cute guy from train
Call me Bucky.
„Who the hell is Bucky?“
Sam jumped as his sister read the words on his device out loud, quickly hiding the screen from her. But the damage was already done. The whole table turned to him and looked at him curiously.
„Bucky?“
„What an interesting name.“
„Your girlfriend?!“
„Or your boyfriend…?“
„When‘s the marriage?“
„Am I invited?“
Sam groaned and sunk into his seat once more, shielding his face from everyone else as laughter and wolf whistles filled the room.
Hot guy from train
Is baby fine, too?
Cute guy from train
Hell yeah