He Loves Him
by Tegan Fjerstad
Copyright 2019 Tegan Fjerstad. All Rights Reserved.
This is a work of fiction. Characters, places, and events are products of the author's imagination. Any resemblence to real persons, places, or events is coincidental.
Contents
Chapter 1 – Riker
Chapter 2 – Riker
Chapter 3 – Kit
Chapter 4 - Kit
Chapter 5 - Kit
Chapter 6 - Riker
Chapter 7 - Kit
Chapter 8 - Kit
Chapter 9 - Riker
Chapter 10 - Kit
Chapter 11 - Riker
Chapter 12 - Kit
Chapter 13 - Riker
Chapter 14 - Kit
Chapter 15- Riker
Chapter 16 - Kit
Chapter 17 - Riker
Chapter 18 – Kit
Chapter 19 - Riker
Chapter 20 – Kit
Chapter 21 - Riker
Chapter 22 - Riker
Chapter 23 - Riker
Chapter 24 - Riker
Chapter 25 - Kit
Chapter 26 – Riker
Chapter 27 - Kit
Chapter 28 - Kit
Chapter 29 - Riker
Chapter 30 – Kit
Chapter 31 - Riker
Chapter 32 - Kit
Chapter 33 - Riker
Chapter 34- Riker
Chapter 35 – Kit
Chapter 36 - Riker
Chapter 37 – Kit
Chapter 38 – Kit
Chapter 39 - Riker
Chapter 40 - Kit
Chapter 41 - Kit
Chapter 42 – Riker
Chapter 43 - Riker
Chapter 44 – Kit
Chapter 45 – Riker
Chapter 46 – Kit
Chapter 47 – Kit
Chapter 48 – Riker
Chapter 49 - Kit
Chapter 50- Kit
Chapter 51 – Riker
Chapter 52 - Riker
Chapter 53 - Kit
Chapter 53 - Kit
Chapter 55 - Riker
Chapter 56 – Kit
Chapter 57 - Kit
Chapter 58 – Riker
Chapter 59 - Kit
Chapter 60 – Riker
Chapter 61- Kit
Chapter 62 – Riker
Chapter 62 – Kit
Chapter 63 – Riker
Chapter 64 - Riker
Chapter 65 – Kit
Chapter 1 – Riker
August 12th & 15th, 2016
Unpacking was boring. Horribly boring. I had gotten my bed made. I shoved everything that belonged in the bathroom, into my bathroom before collapsing down onto my bed. There were still clothes to unpack and posters to put up. Other miscellaneous items to find a home for and textbooks to shove into a corner. But I didn’t have the motivation to deal with all of that. My dad was supposed to help me unpack. But plans had changed the day before and all he had time to do was drop me off and move my boxes into the apartment before leaving to catch a plane. Kit would help when he got home.
That was a perk of moving in with your boyfriend, obligatory help unpacking, among other things. Kit was supposed to meet my dad today, but yeah that wasn’t happening. Oh well, time alone with Kit was better in my book, anyway.
“I see you’re being productive.”
I bolted upright from my position sprawled out on my bed to see Kit standing in my doorway, still in his work uniform, and smiling fondly. Within two seconds, I was off the bed and throwing myself into his arms.
“I missed you,” I said as I molded against his chest.
“We’ve talked to each other every day.”
“Yeah, but no hugs,” I said, holding him even tighter.
“Right, I forgot you keep me around for the hugs.”
I hummed and pulled back enough to kiss him, soft and gentle and everything I had missed for the last few months. “The hugs and the kisses,” I said as we broke apart.
“Missed you too, Ri.” He tugged me back against him. “I’m sorry your Dad couldn’t stick around for a little while.”
I rested my head on his shoulder, just short of burying my face into his neck. “Ah, it’s okay. I’m sorry you couldn’t meet him though.”
He rested his cheek on top of my head and said, “There’ll be another chance.”
“Yeah,” I breathed out.
There was a nice moment of silence before Kit suddenly said, “You’ve been here for two hours and this is all you’ve done?”
“It’s boring.” I tilted my head up to look at him with a pout. “Help me?”
“Sure, why not,” he said, then pressed a kiss to my temple before letting me go, and nudging me towards my pile of boxes. After some negotiating—where it was decided that if he tried to put anything anywhere in my room, I would probably just end up moving it later and that if I had to stop what I was doing every couple seconds to tell him where to put something, then we would get nowhere—we settled with him putting my clothes away while I set about organizing the rest.
Well, organizing wasn’t exactly what anyone would call it. There was no system other than, “this fits here so that’s where it’s staying.” The only thing that I actually systematically placed was my trashcan. My textbooks got tossed into the bottom drawer of the desk, likely to never be seen again until I had to sell them back at the end of the semester.
With both of us working on it, we were done unpacking within an hour and moved out into the living room. The living room, which was only separated from the kitchen by a half wall we used as a bar counter, had two couches in it and an armchair. The TV was a decent size and there was a low coffee table that by the looks of it served as a foot rest, a table, and a desk for Kit.
We settled down on one couch together under a pile of blankets I dragged out of my room. Me tucked up under his arm and against his chest, my legs laid out across his lap. Love Actually was on the TV and we were sharing a carton of chocolate chip ice cream. Kit was trailing a finger up and down the shell of my ear with his free hand. Between that and the slow rise and fall of his chest, I was getting drowsy.
As soon as my eyes drifted closed Kits hand dropped to my arm and he said, “Oh no, we are not sleeping on the couch.”
“I’m not falling asleep, promise,” I said tiredly.
“I’m going to wake you up if you do.”
“Okay,” I said as I rubbed my cheek against his shirt.
“Riker?”
“What?”
“I’m glad you’re here.”
I smiled and said, “I’m glad I am too.”
A few days later, we were each lounging on the couch and watching TV. It hadn’t been very long since I moved in and honestly I was still getting used to living with him, but so far everything was perfect. Classes hadn’t started yet, so we had been spending our time getting used to maneuvering around each other and sorting out the chores. He worked a couple shifts at the café and I went to a few soccer practices. We spent a lot of our time together, knowing that once the semester started our schedules would be packed, but we had our time to ourselves too. It was all working out—but that only made me nervous about what would happen once classes picked up. I would be going to practices and games, and he would be working. Things would become messy and imperfect then.
That was what I was thinking about while we were lounging around right then. My parents had brought up those points a lot over the summer and I had always brushed them off, absolutely sure that we’d be fine—but now that I was here, the doubt was creeping in a little. Would he be able to handle all the times I came home late from away games? Would I annoy him when he was trying to study, and I was just lying
around the place listening to music or watching TV? So that was what was going through my head as we watched the news carry on about the upcoming election. Not my viewing of choice, but Kit liked it, and, well, I wasn’t paying too much attention.
“You know you’re usually ranting at the TV by now,” Kit said.
I didn’t even try to come up with some believable lie to tell him about why I was suddenly more quiet than normal. Instead, I just came outright and said what was on my mind. “My parents think we moved in together too soon.”
Kit snorted. “I didn’t realize there was a set time frame for these things.”
Most people wouldn’t approve of moving in together after only about a year together, especially while in college, but no, strictly speaking there was no rule. Every relationship was different, and every relationship went at their own pace. “There isn’t,” I responded.
“Right, so is there a point to this conversation?”
“This is going to work out right? I mean we thought this through. We have separate rooms and everything specifically to make it easier on us. This should work.”
He muted the TV and looked over to me. “Yeah Ri, it’s gonna work out. We didn’t just make a rash decision or anything with this, we thought about it for a while. We were smart about this, we’ll be fine.”
“I thought so. I think I listened to my parents go on about it for so long that I was starting to question it a little, though.”
He smiled. “They’re your parents. They’re allowed to be concerned, but we’ll be okay. It probably won’t be perfect every minute of every day, but it’ll all work out. We’ll be happy.”
“I don’t know how you stay so positive all the time.”
“Because things could always be worse. They have been worse. And right now things are great, so I’m not gonna stress about what might happen.”
I smiled. “Alright, I’m convinced.”
“Good.” Kit turned back to the TV and unmuted it.
Chapter 2 – Riker
September 10th, 2016
We had settled pretty easily into a normal sort of routine once classes had started. I went to most of my classes—sue me for skipping the ones that didn’t have attendance policies occasionally—and went to practice. Kit went to class and work. We always had at least a handful of hours together every day, even if that was just him doing his homework while I watched TV. He drove me to and from class when our schedules made it convenient. Otherwise, I took the bus. He cooked a few times a week, always enough to provide us both with left overs for a day or two, and when he didn’t I had plenty of frozen food, instant meals, and mac and cheese.
Somewhere along the lines we agreed that when I was away at games, he would try and change his schedule to work the days I was gone and have the other days free. When I didn’t have an away game, we spent most of Friday together. Either Saturday or Sunday, he would do schoolwork and I would disappear off with my friends for a while or lounge around in my room. Whatever day we didn’t do that we would spend it together. It was a nice equilibrium we had found. Spending time together, living together, without being constantly in each other’s space and without getting sucked into our own little vortex and ignoring the rest of the world.
“Kit!” I yelled from where I was sitting cross-legged in the middle of my bed. A few seconds later he appeared in my doorway.
“You remember how we invited Elyse over for dinner?” I asked as innocently as I could manage.
“Yes, why?” he said crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe.
“Well, you see, what happened was, I forgot I promised Jake ages ago he could come over tonight because Jermaine was throwing a party and he didn’t want to deal with it,” I explained quickly.
Kit cursed.
“Yeah…I’m sorry.”
“They’re going to kill each other,” Kit said.
“Jake and I can go to a movie or something while she’s here. Or I can just tell him he can’t come over anymore.”
He waved his hand dismissively, “No, no. It’s fine. You’re not leaving him hanging like that and you’re definitely not fleeing for the night. I’ll warn her, make sure she’s civil. You wanna warn him?”
“’kay.”
“When was he going to come over?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know, but he was gonna crash here for the night if you don’t mind.”
“I don’t care.”
“Thanks,” I said with a soft smile.
He walked forward, put his hands down on my mattress, and bent over to kiss me. “It’s going to be a long night,” he said. I agreed, and he made a hasty retreat to his room to contact her.
I searched my bed for my phone until I pulled it victoriously out of the depths of my blanket and opened up my text messages with Jake.
R: Heeyyyy, soooo, I royally screwed up.
J: What did you do?
R: Got plans mixed up in my head…Elyse is coming over for dinner tonight.
J: -__-
R: Kit’s talking to her though! Gonna make sure things stay civil and she doesn’t attack you.
J: I can just lock myself in my room tonight. I don’t want to cause drama in your apartment.
R: Noooo, come over. She’ll only be here a couple of hours. We can still have fun the rest of the night. Please? You’re just gonna be pissed off all night if you’re in your room listening to that party.
J: Oh and I’m not going to get pissed off at Elyse?
R: … Maybe, but at least I’m here. Pleeeaassseeee come over still? I’m sorry I got things mixed up.
J: Alright, alright don’t start begging. You’re probably right anyway. Hanging at yours is still the better option.
R: :D
J: See you soon.
Chapter 3 – Kit
September 10th, 2016
“No, stop that…what are you…agghhhh,” Riker’s voice came from the living room. I looked up briefly from my cooking to see what was going on. The game of Smash Bros had devolved into a wrestling match on the floor. Luckily, the remotes and the coffee table appeared to be safely out of their range. Well, as long as they aren’t breaking anything, I thought to myself then resumed cooking. It wasn’t really out of the normal for them anyway.
I heard the front door open and close next. Elyse was here. Cue the inevitable drama of the night. The one and only previous time that Elyse and Jake had met she had decided instantly, for reasons still unknown to the rest of us, that she absolutely hated him. She had been downright rude to him from the beginning. While Jake had stayed civil and tried his best at first, his patience eventually ran out and a huge fight had ensued shortly after. Elyse had later told me that she would never like the guy no matter what the circumstances. We had been avoiding the two coming into contact again ever since.
It had taken quite a bit of persuasion to convince her to at least be civil when I warned her of his presence via text message. I finally won that one when I told her she was my best friend and he was Riker’s and since Riker was a permanent fixture in my life, she was would have to deal with Jake being around from time to time.
She came straight into the kitchen and gave me a one-armed hug as I finished cutting up some vegetables. “You know most people wouldn’t be comfortable with their boyfriend cuddling another guy,” she said.
“They can hear you, you know.”
She just gave me a look that clearly said she didn’t care.
I sighed. “They’re fine. Jake is the last person I have to worry about. They were like this before I ever entered the picture, so as far as I’m concerned it’s none of my business, therefore it’s none of yours either.”
I looked back out to where they had in fact switched from wrestling to lying half on top of each other while resuming the video game. Riker held up a ‘thumbs up’ after I finished telling Elyse off and I smiled even though his back was to me. Whether he was giving me the thumbs up for shutting her down or for just for accepting his and Jake�
�s friendship I didn’t know, but I had a feeling it was a bit of both. He knew I didn’t care about how close he was with Jake though. I used to walk into their dorm room to them hugging or curled up together watching Netflix all the time. It wasn’t out of the ordinary with them and it wasn’t like it was something that had developed recently. No, it had been that way from the beginning. Besides, Jake didn’t like guys anyway. They were just like brothers really, and I had never once questioned it. I never would.
“You want to be useful and help me cook?” I asked, hoping to keep her distracted from Jake at least for a little while longer.
“Whatever, just tell me what to do.”
An uneasy sort of truce settled on the apartment for a while then. Riker and Jake continued playing their game in near silence, if they were talking, it was whispered or it was about what arena they wanted to fight in next. At the same time, the only real talking happening between me and Elyse was about the cooking. It was kind of awkward, but at least no one was verbally attacking anyone else yet.
After an hour of that, the food was done and all four of us were sitting down to eat. One look at Riker and I knew he was on edge, just waiting for something to go wrong. I kicked him lightly under the table to get his attention then smiled at him. It was all good so far, maybe it would stay that way. He smiled back a little and accepted the bread Elyse passed his way.
“Kit, this is great,” Jake said after finishing a bite of the sautéed vegetables.
“Thanks,” I said. I didn’t miss the eye roll Elyse made.
“When are you going to teach Riker to cook?”
“He’s tried,” Riker said.
“Yeah, he’s a lost cause,” I said, not unkindly.
As we started talking Riker had relaxed a little. Thank god for Jake. Now we just had to get Elyse involved somehow, or I’d never hear the end of how I “ignored” her all night.
“You have to teach me a thing or two someday. Right now, Jermaine and I are surviving off the basics and I’m already tired of it,” Jake said.
“Sure. I taught Elyse a few recipes last year.”
He Loves Him Page 1
