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+ “That’s it,” Saul groans out, “Fuck, baby—”His eyes are mostly covered by his hair, but Duff hardly needs to see his expression to know they’ve slid closed, mouth slack as his grip tightens where his big hands rest low on Duff’s narrow hips.Duff’s thighs are aching where he’s straddling Saul, the muscles burning, but by now he’s starting to get the hang of it; their bodies move smoothly together, half-covered by the sheets as the early afternoon sunlight moves across their bare skin. His fingers flex on Saul’s chest and he grunts, low in his chest, trying to concentrate as he rolls his hips down. He feels Saul draw a sharp inhale beneath the splay of his palms, and then—“Oh, Jesus Christ!”Duff startles in surprise at the unfamiliar cry, practically falling off of Saul with a loud gasp as he reflexively attempts to yank the sheets up enough to cover himself. His eyes widen in horror as he takes in the sight of the open door, the purse dropped on the ground, the neatly-pressed skirt and matching blazer.“Oh,” Saul says after a long moment of silence, sounding uncharacteristically sheepish. “Hiya, Mrs. McKagan.” + The worst part of it isn’t Saul pulling on his jeans and running out the door with a mumbled ’Call me’, and it’s not when his mother throws a bathrobe at him and says, “Get dressed and come downstairs.” It’s not even when she starts yelling, either.The worst part comes after, when the anger fades and the exhausted, hard-eyed disappointment sets in.“We let this get out of hand,” she finally says, flat and acerbic as she stares him down across the kitchen counter. The sunlight is glinting off of the smooth granite, reflecting on her glasses and the sharp downturn of her mouth. “This behaviour is not acceptable, Michael. First the Bailey boy, and now—“ she cuts herself off, then takes a short breath and tries again: “We let the hair dye slide, and we let the clothes slide, but this is crossing a line.”Duff feels rooted to the ground, his face hot and ashamed.“Your father and I— We talked about it. We thought after Axl, you needed time to sort yourself out, but…” His mother scrubs an aggrieved hand over her face and says, “I mean for god's sakes, Michael, our bedroom? That boy—”“Saul,” Duff provides meekly.“—is not a good influence on you. You’re slacking in school, sneaking out every second night and leaving for school the next morning wearing sunglasses when the sun isn’t even up.” She shakes her head and says, “I don’t know what I’m supposed to think.”There’s a long pause between them, and when Duff hazards a quick glance up, he finds an pained look on her face. “This is your future,” she says. “All those schools you’ve worked so hard to get into, and now what? Your plan is to let your grades slip in the last semester of senior year and get your acceptance revoked?”Duff swallows and ducks his head again, cheeks aflame. “I— I’m sorry,” he mumbles pathetically, and then they lapse back into silence.“Michael,” his mother eventually says with an air of finality, “I love you, and your father loves you, and you know that. But things are going to have to change around here.” + So, no phone. No laptop. No car. No bedroom door. No Saul. Curfew at seven PM. For his own good.As Duff lies on his bed, staring up at the shadows on his ceiling, his parents’ words echo through his head on a loop. He’d had to wash their sheets, flushed and humiliated the whole time he was stripping the bed and loading the washer, his mother sitting silently at the kitchen table downstairs. His father had come home two hours later and Duff had heard the sound of footsteps, keys being set down on the counter, the murmur of their voices and then silence.When he had finally come upstairs, Duff hadn’t been able to meet his eyes. Instead, he just sat there on the edge of his bed and let his father’s words wash over him - something about an appointment for an STI test and his rapidly-approaching set of final exams, all mixed in with a lot of heavy sighing and awkward, shame-filled silences.Fuck.There’s a subtle sort of anger there, too— at his parents, at himself for getting caught, and most of all at Saul for convincing him it “wouldn’t be a big deal” to use his parents’ room in the first place. It twists and tangles inside him like some kind of giant ball of rope, winding his guts into knots.He’s pathetic. + “But you’re still comin’ to the party on Saturday, right?” Saul asks, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world.The two of them have cut out of class twenty minutes before lunch break and are walking to the nearby convenience store for slurpees and cigarettes with Saul’s fake ID. Duff’s parents have done their best to forbid them from seeing each other, but he figures what they don’t know can’t hurt them. Duff feels his expression tighten at Saul’s breezy tone. “I’m grounded, Saul,” he repeats, trying not to let his annoyance get the best of him. “I don’t even have a bedroom door. I can’t— There’s no way I could get out of the house without them knowing.”“So?” Saul shrugs, blasé in a way that makes Duff want to punch him in the mouth.“So, I’m saying I can’t come to the stupid fucking party,” Duff bites out, keeping his gaze straight forward as they walk. “Because in case you hadn’t forgotten, someone had the brilliant idea to get adventurous in my parents’ room, and now I’m not even allowed to go to the library past seven PM.”Saul huffs an exhale, the eye-roll evident when he grumbles, “Jeez, no need to get pissy.”The remark catches in Duff’s brain, but before he has a chance to properly react, Saul’s voice turns downcast as he continues with, “I just mean I told C.C. we’d be there, like, last week, babe. It’s gonna be fun. I want you there with me, okay?”Duff frowns. “I— My parents would find out, Saul. They’d kill me.”“Then I’ll have to come sneak you out,” Saul suggests easily. “I’ll come once they’re asleep, and you can put a bunch of pillows and blankets in your bed, or somethin’. The whole shebang. I can have you back by three at the latest,” he coaxes.“It’s not a good idea,” Duff responds uneasily.As if Saul can sense the way Duff’s resolution is beginning to falter, he knocks their shoulders together and leans in close to add, “I have a bunch of friends who wanna meet you, baby. I wanna show you off.”Duff rolls his eyes, but feels himself flush with something akin to pleasure all the same. “Mom was right about you being a bad influence,” he grumbles.“Never said I wasn’t,” Saul laughs. “And besides,” he adds, reaching over to pinch Duff’s ass with a smirk, “It’s been a long week without you. Sunday started off pretty hot, but your ma was kind of a boner killer, so… Whaddya say we make the most of the time we’re given, huh?” +