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"Julio!"
The hands that shook him were familiar even in his sleep, but he was not ready to leave his dreams.
"Wake up! You have to see!"
Hearing Star so excited was so rare it made him crack an eye. "Gave-e-e-e-dra," he whined an objection, rolling the 'r' sleepily and tugging the blankets back from his overzealous lover. It was cold in the room, and the fact that Star was being so damn loud told him that Jono and Roberto - his roommates - had already left the room. The light coming through the window was suspiciously bright.
"Julio, come," Gav insisted.
Under most circumstances, these words were something he liked to hear, but it was too early. Gav must have thought the same thing because a little draft preceded rough fingers skating across his belly. Ric hissed softly; his hands were cold. All he wanted was to sleep a little longer. "What could be so important?" he wondered.
The edge of his bed sagged as Gav settled next to him, and those strong fingers warmed quickly and dipped lower. Julio gasped as they slid into his briefs to grasp his morning hardness. Two bleary brown eyes quickly sought out gray ones, and they were filled with mischief and something else.
"Madre di dios he is beautiful," Julio thought for the thousandth time, but it didn't entirely keep the grumble out of his voice, "All right, Star, I will get up for you."
Ric was rewarded with a flash of an unnaturally bright smile considering the ungodly hour. It could not even be nine AM on a Saturday. Star's low, soft reply sent shivers down his back. "You already are up for me," Gav teased, but it didn't keep his hips from hitching happily or his brain from groaning at the bad attempt at humor.
Of course, Star's bad jokes did not keep him from loving the blond man any less. A hard swat with carefully aimed pillow was enough revenge - for now. "I have to go," Julio said meaningfully, glancing at the bathroom door. He quickly slid out the other side of the bed since his attack had temporarily dislodged Star's grasp on his erection.
Laughing softly, Gav sprawled across his bed. If the rare laughter wasn't enough to make Julio want to crawl right back in bed with him, the lazy display of pale skin and red-gold hair was. In a flash, he was leaning back over his lover, pressing an upside-down kiss into those full, irresistible lips.
But at the first touch of those fingers on his hair, Julio danced back, smiling wistfully. First a kiss, then hair running through his fingers... it was a slippery slope and they had promised Xavier that they would not make love in either of their bedrooms in deference to their roommates. "I will be back, te amo."
***
Star only gave him enough time to slide on yesterday's jeans, a T-shirt, and a thin sweater before he was tugged unceremoniously down to the foyer. He could hear the muffled sounds of the other students, but there seemed to be no one in the halls.
"Julio, look!" Gav breathed as he unexpected turned on the landing and tugged the doors open. The blast of cold air took his breath away. He hated New England, mostly because of the cold, and before he could register a complaint, Gav had tugged him out on the wide stone porch before abandoning him to skip down the steps to stand, face to the sky, his mouth wide open.
It was snowing - the first real snowfall of the year - and the grass was just covered, transforming the world from the muted browns and grays of fall, to the crisp black and white of winter. Julio had to admit that it was very pretty, but it didn't mean he had to like it. "Star, it is just snow..."
It was at that moment he looked at his lover - really looked as Gav turned, eyes closed as the flakes drifted down onto his face - and it made Julio's voice catch in his throat. He had known Gaveedra was no child the instant he laid eye on him despite the fact that he was probably a little younger than he was. Star had no wrinkles, no scars - no marks at all, in fact - but there was something old in the set of his jaw and in that little line between his eyebrows that appeared when he concentrated. Most of all, there was that serious, almost haunted look in his eyes that sometimes that made him ache for his lover - for what he had lost and for what he had never known. Gaveedra had never been to the North until July of this year, and now it was November. Even in the South, he had never been outside to see the mountain tops; he had not been free.
Julio could not see Gaveedra Seven's eyes, but he knew they were washed clean like his face was in his first snow. Suddenly, Gav was the child he had never been allowed to be, and it took his breath away as he imagined those intense gray eyes gone innocent, softer without the years of pain and loss. Julio wanted to see the snow reflected in those unsullied eyes.
Whispering a prayer of thanks under his breath to the Virgin Mary for the gifts that he had received, he hugged himself against the cold until he could make it down the steps to wrap his arms around his Star. "It is beautiful, sÃ?"
Shatterstar turned in his arms and opened his eyes - so clear and bright in the even white light that they almost glowed. "SÃ, it is beautiful," he whispered, Star's breath warm and sweet on his face. His lips were even warmer.
The air was still cold when they broke apart again, but he really didn't seem to feel it as much. Star's eyes were full of mischief now, but no less bright; little flecks of pure white danced there.
A snowball sailed high and landed on the stairs nearby - Piotr had obviously spotted them. Gav's head swiveled, his eyes tracking the trajectory back to behind the far bushes. White teeth flashed as Gav looked at him, and Julio could tell he was eager to join in the brewing snowball fight between the students.
"Go," Julio waved him on. "I will watch from here."
A deep grunt and a curse in Russian announced Gav's first shot was on target, and Julio smiled as Star whooped in joy and loped toward the bushes.
Wrapping his arms around him to ward the chill, Julio watched and smiled and cheered as his friends danced across the lawn like the snowflakes falling from the sky, for once truly not minding the snow.