“Yeah, but what if she gets scratched. I don't trust these things," Jim said as he pulled into the car wash parking lot. ABesides I can do a better job at the U-Spray place down the street.”

“Jim, man, we just don=t have time. You know if we get back late Simon's going to blame me, man. Remember what he said last time? This will be way faster. Besides, this is the perfect opportunity for us to work on honing your abilities,” Blair quickly added.

Jim had grudgingly learned to accept the endless tests and experiments Blair dreamed up for him. “Well she better not get scratched,” he grumbled as he pulled up in line for the automatic car wash.

Unfortunately, the line was several cars long. Jim considered just backing out and letting his beloved truck stay dirty for another day but he found himself blocked in. He tried to see through around rubber flaps into the building but could only catch glimpses. Jim then tried to listen for the sound of paint being scraped as a car went through the machine. There were too many different sounds coming from the machine and he had to strain to hear the wet brushes sliding along the vehicle. Suddenly he felt a hand on his arm.

“Jim? Common back to me, okay? You hear me?” Blair was talking to him and looking at him concerned.

“Yeah. Yeah, I hear you. Sorry, I just uh...”

“We're up,” Blair said pointing to the entrance area. Jim noticed that several cars had gone through while he had zoned out.

Jim drove ahead and paid the attendant. Pulling the truck into the building he found himself surrounded by many different noises from around the outside of the truck.

“... listening to me?” He caught part of what Blair was saying. “Jim, just focus on me, okay? Just my voice. There=s nothing else you need to hear, okay?”

Jim looked over at Blair and found himself drawn by a pair of focused eyes.

“Good,” Blair said with a smile, now that he had Jim's attention.

Focusing just on that smile Jim found that he could almost forget the loud sounds of gears turning, brushes moving and water splashing. As the truck moved ahead on the automated rails, the water jets began to hit the car and Jim found himself temporarily deafened by the sound. He could see Blair talking to him but couldn’t seem to focus on the words. When Blair again reached over and put a hand gently on his arm he felt the spell break and again he could hear the soft voice beside him.

“This is really hard for you isn’t it?” Blair asked. He seemed surprised by how much trouble Jim was having controlling his senses. “Must be because there=s noise coming from all sides,” he said thinking aloud.

“It=s fine, Chief. I'm just making sure they don=t scratch the paint,” Jim half lied. “Just concentrating too hard on that I guess.” He didn’t want Blair to figure out that he was finding it all but impossible to focus his hearing in the noisy car wash.

“Okay, well let's try something else,” Blair suggested, turning sideways on the seat to face Jim. “I want you to look at me. Just focus on my eyes. Let everything else fade out.”

Jim turned to Blair. His enhanced vision made Blair=s face appear to glow in the low light. He stared into the big blue eyes, pupils totally dilated, happy for once he had an excuse to lose himself in them. But Jim found himself again distracted as a shiny piece of grit on a spinning brush caught his attention, visible through the window behind Blair. Soon he was watching the brushes as they spun and whapped against the side of the truck.

Again a firm hand on his arm pulled Jim’s attention back to the inside of the truck where Blair was looking slightly disappointed. The look quickly vanished as he replaced it with a small, almost sly smile. Jim noticed the change and wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it.

“I have an idea. Jim I want you to try to just focus on me touching you.” Realizing that it had come out questionably, Blair amended, “Just feel my hand on your arm. Look at whatever you want, listen for anything but you have to keep track of my hand. As soon as you can't feel it you have to try to refocus on your sense of touch, okay?”

Growing tired of Blair's little impromptu experiment and just wanting to get out of the car wash Jim nodded and listened for the sound of his paint getting scratched (as he knew would probably happen). At the same time he watched for more abrasive bits of road junk on the moving brushes. Despite splitting his focus he also did as Blair requested and felt the constant pressure on arm as Blair held tight. But when the soap began to foam out of the jets and hit the car, the smell of the cleaner pulled his attention away and Jim found it increasingly more difficult to find the balance he had previously achieved.

Blair had quickly realized that his testing Jim in the carwash was not going very well. There were just too many different things competing for the Sentinel's attention. But he had noticed that touch had been the only thing that brought Jim's attention back to him each time he nearly zoned. Blair couldn’t tell what Jim was focused on now, or if his attention was just spread across all his senses. What he could recognize was that a hand on Jim=s arm was not enough to keep his attention focused sufficiently.

Blair moved across the bench seat so that he was closer to where Jim sat, body rigid as he tried (unsuccessfully) to focus his senses. Blair tentatively ran a hand across Jim's chest, feeling the hard muscle tensed up under palm. Jim had an amazing physique that Blair both admired and lusted after. Occasionally, he even felt a little jealous but when he thought of all the time and
effort the Detective put into keeping his body in peak condition Blair realized that he would never look like that. He would never have the time or focus to work on his body. He had a thesis and partner that commanded all of his time and energy. Though he wouldn’t ever have a perfect body like Jim's, that didn’t keep him from wanting to touch it as much as he could. Blair was always pleased when he could find an excuse to touch Jim and now was no exception.

He let his wandering hand travel down to Jim's hard abs, loving the feel of coiled muscles rippling under his finger tips. Yet there was still no reaction from Jim.

"Hrmp," Blair said. "Well, let's just see how distracted you really are."

Without stopping to think about what he was doing, Blair reached down and unbuttoned Jim's pants. He slowly pulled down the zipper and was slightly surprised to find Jim was already half hard. Blair reached under the waist band of Jim's boxers and began massaging Jim's cock. He looked up and still there was no visible reaction from Jim except the rapid swelling and hardening.

Looking ahead he saw that they still had plenty of time before the truck was finished so he quickly leaned over and took Jim's cock in his mouth. He wasted no time in sucking hard and fast trying to quickly bring Jim off and get SOME kind of reaction. He looked up through curls at the stony expression from his place in Jim's lap.

Suddenly something took over, involuntary reaction, animal lust, pent up sexual frustration, Blair didn’t know what but now Jim was bucking up into his mouth. Still his face was expressionless and he stared out the windshield even as his hips moved of their own volition. As Jim thrust several times in rapid succession he exploded in Blair's mouth. Blair's touch had again broken the spell and, as Jim returned to the moment, his hand slammed down on the window crank, effectively lowering the window several inches. Soon he was blasted by foamy, soapy, dirty water. Still trying to get his bearings as he returned both from the zone and the orgasm Jim didn’t realize what was happening. He felt Blair reaching over him, cursing the whole time, as he shut the window.

"Damn Jim!" he said as he sat up and scooted back across the bench seat back to his side. Seeing the foamy soap in his hair Blair finished, "Did you really have to get all this white junk in my hair?"

Looking down at his open pants, Jim wiped off the wet side of his face with his sleeve. "Maybe you should warn me before you try that again, huh? I WAS a little distracted you know."

Blair stopped trying to shake the foam from his hair and looked at Jim, his expression hopeful, nervous and slightly guilty at the same time. "Um, I was trying an experiment?" he said sounding unsure. The enormity of what he'd just done only now sinking in. The fact that he hadn’t asked didn’t make him feel any better about his bold actions.

"Try again," Jim said, not impressed by the answer. He zipped his pants back up.

Suddenly very unsure about what he'd done, Blair said, "I was reading between the lines. I-I thought you wanted it. That you maybe want me," Blair finished barely above a whisper.

Jim noticed that despite all the noises that continued around the truck, he now had no trouble focusing on Blair. He wasn’t sure if that was because he had finally got a release from the sexual tension that had been plaguing him nearly every day since he met Blair, or because he was so surprised by what Blair had done that he couldn’t think of anything else, even the loud noises, distracting brushes and water jets surrounding them.

Jim sighed deeply. Sure, he wanted Blair, but he always thought that HE’D be the one to make the first move, which he would have long ago if he thought he had a snowball's chance in hell of getting THAT type of attention from him. He knew Blair as very attached to him, not only as a research subject but as a friend and partner. Yet Jim had never thought Blair would be attracted to him in that way. Sure, he=d noticed the way Blair looked at him but he figured Blair was just concerned as a friend or just admiring his build in that way guys did in the locker room. He'd only dreamed that those longing looks had meant more. Yet now it seemed like there WAS more, that Blair wanted more from him than the relationship they had now. They were as close as any two people who weren’t lovers could be. But when Jim had focused his sense of touch, and realized that all the amazing feelings were centered around his cock as it was pulled deeply into Blair’s warm mouth, he=d only known pleasure. Now that they were sitting quietly, drying off the water he had accidentally got them both covered with, he could see that this was much more than he’d first felt. The moment was gone and while still feeling good from the orgasm Jim wanted to make it clear that that was more than just a quick meaningless blow job to him.

“I DO want you. I always have. Why do you think I let you move in? Into my home, into my life..”

"Because my place blew up?" Blair said, looking at the dash, obviously not believing Jim could possibly share his feelings.

“I let you in because I cared about you. I want you close to me. I want you safe. I-I need you.”

“Yeah, so you don't zone out,” Blair said, rationalizing. He heard Jim's words yet he couldn’t get himself to believe what was said. He was afraid that Jim was just letting him off nicely and that any moment now he’d say something about ‘not being interested that way but finding it flattering.’

“I need you for more than that,” Jim said in a sincere tone that almost got through to Blair. He reached over and put him hand on Blair's arm, mirroring the way Blair had touched him earlier. Blair looked over to Jim and in the dim light he could see only sincerity and what he could swear might just be love in the eyes looking back at him.

“You hear me, Chief?” Jim asked quietly, never breaking eye contact. They both knew he meant, ‘do you believe me?’

“Yeah,” Blair said with a small, hesitant smile.

“So,” Jim began, his tone amused, trying to break the tension. “I think we learned something today, professor Sandburg.”

“Warn you before doing anything like that again?” Blair ventured.

“Yes, but that's not what I meant.”

“Um,” Blair thought. Feeling some of his confidence returning he asked, “Blow jobs are great for getting you out of a zone?”

“Definitely. But that isn’t what I meant either.”

Blair want to say, ‘That you want me and I want you and it’s just the best and most amazing thing in the world!’ but he didn’t. It was just too soon to say it and he still wasn’t totally sure it was true. He’d been lied to too many times before when it came to love, though never by Jim. “That automatic car washes and Sentinels don't mix?”

“Bingo,” Jim said. He was hoping that Blair might be able to say that they had learned about each other but could see the other man still wasn’t sure about where he stood right now. He'd have to make it clear for him later, show the young man how mutual the attraction was.

As they pulled out of the building and into the bright sunshine he said, “Now, let's go see how bad the scratches are.”

“There aren’t going to be any scratches, I already told you, man,” Blair said, smiling. He felt them falling back into their old pattern. It had never felt more comfortable before. “It’s all good. It’ll look all shiny and new. You’ll see. I trust them, I take my car here all the time.”

“That's not saying much,” Jim said, deadpan.

“Oh, that's harsh,” Blair said, pretending to be wounded by the remark. “Jim, buddy, you’ll see it’ll look better than ever.”

Jim glanced over at Blair, taking in the bits of white fluff still stuck in his curly hair. He was beaming and smiling as he spoke. Despite the drenched curls and slight uncertainty still noticeable in his eyes, Jim thought Blair had never looked more beautiful, talking animatedly and lit by the morning sun. He had all but forgotten about the paint on his beloved truck.

Jim steered the truck out of the lot and headed for the station. When he reached over and took Blair's hand into his own he felt the hand squeeze back.

End

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