Silence Says

Warning: This chapter contains sexual content. Skip down to below the # if you want to avoid it.

They made it until just past lunchtime the next day before ending up with their hands all over one another again. Toby's issues were a good excuse for the two of them not to show up to their afternoon activity.

Toby poked Noah's erection, concealed but not entirely constrained by the loose fabric of his shorts, with a tentative finger.

"Having fun?" Noah asked, hands resting behind his head as he lay reclined on Toby's bed.

Toby nodded and prodded at it again. He could feel its heat through Noah's shorts. Toby wasn't game enough to actually do more than poke at it and Noah wasn't pushing. It was just... with their clothes on, there were only so many things they could do, so many options. As soon as the pants came off there would be far fewer limitations. Toby wasn't sure he'd be able to keep things under his control anymore.

Toby pushed it down, then watch it spring up again as far as the fabric of Noah's shorts would allow. It was bigger than Toby's, though not to the point of being frightening or making Toby feel self conscious. The whole of Noah was larger than Toby, so it only made sense.

It didn't even occur to Toby to make this about more than his own curiosity until he noticed the way Noah was responding to his touch. Noah looked mostly relaxed, but his hands were clenching at his hair and he was chewing his lip. When Toby dragged his fingers over the tent in Noah's pants, Noah inhaled sharply and bit down on his lip.

Watching Noah's face, Toby rubbed his palm downwards.

The gasp Noah gave in response turned into a laugh. "You're smiling. You practically never smile. You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Aren't you?"

"Clearly."

Toby rubbed his palm down again and Noah's back arched off the bed. After a couple more rubs Toby's other hand wandered to his own crotch and began giving it the same treatment, matching the pressure and speed of the one on Noah’s. It was amazing how much more Toby's own hand could affect him when he had Noah's flushed face and tensing muscles to look at. The straining heat pressing against his other hand didn’t hurt his arousal either.

If Toby had been on his own his current method probably wouldn't have gotten him very far. With Noah there, though... Toby stopped touching himself before they had a repeat of the previous night. "I'm going to go take a shower now."

Noah grinned. "Where are the rest of those tissues?"

#

They made it to Saturday without Toby getting upset once. Having Noah, truly having him, made things far easier.

It was just past midday and Toby was catching up on his reading while Noah was out getting some exercise with his more physically active friends. Noah had promised to be back before one with lunch, though, because that was when Toby's foster mum was supposed to visit.

There was a knock on the cabin door at twenty past twelve, which was... wrong. Sure his foster mum had said she’d be there at about one, he'd known her timing wouldn't be exact, but forty minutes was well off and she knew how important it was to him for things to happen when expected. Noah might not be back for another half hour and that would just throw everything off. Toby set his book aside and got up to answer the door.

The person at the door was not, in fact, Toby's foster mum. Much too male. Toby thought at first that the man must have the wrong cabin, but then he noticed his eyes. Pale blue, just like Noah's. No, not like Noah's at all. Noah's eyes had never been that cold.

"Is Noah here?" the man, presumably Noah's dad, asked, looking past Toby into the cabin.
"No."

"Where is he?" Noah's dad asked, a hint of impatience in his voice.

Toby shrugged. Words had dissolved.

"I was told he would be here," Toby's dad said, his voice accusing like somehow this was Toby's fault. "Let me in."

"No," Toby said. That word was still there. Toby tried to shut the cabin door, but Noah's dad quickly stuck a foot out to hold it open and grabbed hold of Toby's wrist.

"Do you have any idea who I am?"

Toby made a low sound of warning in the back of his throat and tugged at his wrist, but Noah's dad held tight.

"I'm the founder and CEO of Eckart industries. I make more money in a day than you will in your entire lifetime. You're nothing but a-"

"Hey!" someone shouted, and Toby looked up to see Mark approaching. "Don't touch him!"

Noah's dad released Toby's wrist, though it seemed more out of surprise than obedience. "Do you know where my son is?"

"You let Toby go inside and shut the door and I'll go get him for you."

"Fine," Noah's dad said as he stepped back. Toby slammed the door shut and locked it.

That was Noah's dad? Noah had said more than enough for Toby to know he wasn't a pleasant man, but how had Noah lived with someone like him for nearly eighteen years and ended up so nice? Toby sat on the floor next to the door and waited.

Noah announced his presence loudly the second Mark returned with him. "You fucking touched him?"

"He tried to shut the door in my face," Noah's dad said, his voice not raising above perfect calm.

"I don't care what he did! Just... leave. What are you even doing here?"

Toby bit down on his arm, doing his best not to let Noah's raised voice push him over the edge into something dramatic.

"I've come to get you. It was pointed out to me that this situation is rather similar to the time I sent you to that all boys school. The way you're defending this boy suggests my concerns are not unfounded."

"Oh, fuck you! I'm not going anywhere with you!"

It was getting harder and harder for Toby to follow their conversation. His brain was giving up on language and switching to a more primal mode. Noah's dad said something about Noah being a minor, and after that it was nothing but noise. Toby clamped his hands over his ears to block out Noah's shouting.

When the door opened a while later Toby expected to see Noah but shrunk back anyway. It wasn't Noah, though. It was their usual camp counselor. He crouched down next to Toby and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out Toby kicked him in the knee. The counselor toppled backwards and Toby leapt up and headed for the safety of the bathroom. The sound the door made when he slammed it behind himself only stirred him up more.

Toby paced the small bathroom. He didn't know what to do, just that he needed to do something. He could destroy the room, he wanted to, but he knew he shouldn't. It was their room, their space. Sacred. He sat down on the floor, shut his eyes, and did his best to calm down.

It was quiet outside and the bathroom door was locked. Toby was safe. Rocking helped. Wrapping Noah's towel around his body and biting down on the corner helped too. He dug his fingernails into his arms and let himself cry.

Toby wasn't sure how much time passed between then and when, a while later, he heard his foster mum's voice at the door. "Toby?"

Toby got up and opened it.

"Where's Noah?" Toby asked as she began fussing over him.

There was a noticeable pause, a moment of silence and stillness, before she spoke. "He's gone, baby. His dad took him home."

Toby pushed her off. Not violently, he just... No. No. Things had been going so well. Toby had been doing so well, things between them were just starting to really get moving. No.

"Toby, come on. It's okay. He said he'd email you, didn't he? You can still keep in contact."

Toby shoved the wall to keep himself from shoving her. "I don't have his email address! I don't have anything. How am I supposed to...?"

"I'm sure we can figure out some way to track him down."

"I don't even know his last name! I don't..." Toby trailed off. What had Noah's dad said? Founder of... "Eckart."

Toby's eyes flicked to his nightstand. Most of Noah's things were gone, but whoever had collected them hadn't known the iPad on Toby's side of the room was Noah's. Toby picked it up and sat down on the edge of his bed as he turned it on.

Toby didn't have a Facebook account. What would he have done with it? Someone as popular as Noah, though...

There were only a few people on Facebook with the name Noah Eckart, so it took Toby less than a minute to find Noah's smiling face. Toby quickly signed up for an account and then sent Noah a message.

I have your iPad.

"Did you find him?" Toby's foster mum asked. He'd forgotten she was there.

"Mm."

It took only a few minutes of repeatedly refreshing the page for Noah to respond. Fuck Toby I am so sorry. Did he hurt you?

Toby looked at his wrist. He'd forgotten about it. There was a slight pink mark on it, but it didn't hurt when he poked it. No. I could mail your iPad to you if you like.

When next Toby refreshed the window, there was a friend request from Noah waiting for him. He accepted it and then, a few moments later, a chat window popped up on the bottom of the screen. Keep it, said the chat text. I'll get it from you when I come visit.

Toby was vaguely aware of his foster mum packing his suitcase as he continued chatting to Noah, and when she was done he allowed her to steer him out of the room. He didn't remember the trip to the car, but somehow they ended up there.

It felt wrong, leaving the camp, but the only thing he really cared about there was already gone.