Learning Curve

by H J Welch

  “That was wonderful,” Myles murmured against Dillon’s hair.

  Dillon smiled and nodded, stroking Myles’s arm with light caresses from his fingers.

  “Perfect,” he agreed.

  He felt calm and happy as he drifted gently into unconsciousness.

  9

  Myles

  Having someone else in his bed was a completely new experience for Myles. Obviously he had shared with Corinne for years, but never in this house. He was surprised to find when he woke that he’d slept the entire night undisturbed. Dillon had drifted away from him at some point, but he was still snuggled up close, lightly snoring, his curls fanned out an inch or so on the other pillow.

  He was stunning. Sweet and sexy and so much fun. Myles could honestly say last night was one of the best nights of his life.

  He realized that Dillon was starting to smile as he squirmed and fluttered his eyelids open.

  “Morning, gorgeous,” Dillon said as he stretched. Then he wriggled into Myles’s arms like he’d done it a hundred times before.

  Myles’s heart contracted. “Morning,” he murmured into Dillon’s curls as he kissed them.

  Dillon’s hand pawed up Myles’s arm until he found his hand, then brought it to his lips to kiss the knuckles. “How are you feeling?”

  Panic threatened to well up inside Myles. But why? What was there to be scared of?

  That Dillon was about to go away.

  Well, there was an easy solution to that.

  “Good,” he said, hugging Dillon tighter. “Great, actually.”

  “Hmm, I feel delightfully sore,” Dillon replied, rolling his body up against Myles. Myles must have reacted in some way, stiffened perhaps, because Dillon immediately looked up at him. “Sore in a good way,” he assured him, kissing his fingers again. “The sex was perfect. Exactly what I wanted. So long as you enjoyed it?”

  Myles could feel himself blushing and he relaxed a little in relief. “Best sex of my life,” he managed to say without mumbling too much. “I didn’t tease you too much, did I? I was kind of caught up in it all.”

  Dillon shook his head and nuzzled their noses together before kissing him leisurely. “I loved it,” he said. “I wasn’t kidding. Getting teased is kind of my thing and not all guys can do it properly. I’m not just saying this, but that was some of the best sex I’ve ever had, too.”

  Myles felt himself light up. “Yeah?” he asked eagerly.

  “Well,” said Dillon, rolling his eyes. “There was this time I was sandwiched between two seriously hot bears and they had this honey-!” He squeaked as Myles rolled on top of him, covering his mouth with one hand and tickling his ribs with the other.

  “No, no, no!” Myles howled. “I do not want to hear that!”

  He didn’t care that Dillon had been fucked before. Of course he had. That was why he was good at it. But Myles didn’t want to visualize the specifics himself.

  Dillon was his now.

  They ended in a tangle of limbs as they laughed and kissed. As they were still naked, that meant certain hardening bits of their anatomy ended up rubbing together, and Myles soon discovered how good frottage could feel. And also how messy that was. But that just led to showers and Myles digging out a spare travel toothbrush he’d gotten from a flight recently for Dillon. Then Dillon borrowing some clean sweatpants and a T-shirt to lounge around in while Myles made them pancakes. Then snuggles on the couch while they pretended to watch an old film but really made out like teenagers.

  It wasn’t until midafternoon that Myles finally got the courage to ask what he’d been hoping for all day.

  “Will you stay another night?” he asked, brushing back one of Dillon’s wayward curls as they lay on the sofa. “We could go out for dinner. Or go play mini golf. Or get drinks…I don’t know. It’s been so long since I dated.”

  Dillon took slightly too long to answer, just enough to make Myles’s heart start to race. But it was probably only a few seconds before Dillon captured the hand stroking his hair and held it between both of his.

  “You want to date?” he asked.

  Myles very nearly said ‘If you do?’, but he was done second-guessing himself. “Yes,” he said simply and surely. “If I’m not too old to have a boyfriend? Does it have to be ‘partner’ or something once you get into your thirties?”

  Dillon cackled with laughter and lightly smacked Myles’s arm. “Stop acting like you’re some dinosaur,” Dillon chided gently. “Sorry, but you’re going to be my boyfriend, whether you like it or not.”

  “Am I?” Myles asked playfully.

  Dillon nodded. “And yes to the date.”

  “Which option?” Myles asked, his mind already whirling with possibilities.

  “All of them,” said Dillon. He brushed his fingers over Myles’s hair and neck and down his arm. “Drinks and mini golf and dinner.” He leaned in and kissed Myles gently on the lips. “I want to do everything with you.”

  Myles felt a deep contentment he’d never experienced before. It seeped into his bones. Obviously nothing could compare with the birth of his daughter. Being a parent was the most overwhelming feeling he figured there was in life. But here, with Dillon, making plans for the rest of the weekend felt both so incredibly natural and yet so impossibly unlikely at the same time.

  Maybe it was just the first throws of love. Myles was sure it wasn’t just the excitement of finally meeting a man he connected with. This was more than sex and a good time. Dillon slotted in and completed him in a way Myles never truly believed another human being would.

  He wondered what the future might hold for them. Not just over the next few days. For the first time in his life, Myles could see a life with someone.

  He was probably getting way ahead of himself, so he said nothing of the sort to Dillon. But while they planned their date out that evening, Myles couldn’t help but be filled with hope.

  Perhaps his lonely days were over after all?

  Epilogue – Three Months Later

  Dillon

  The house was in pandemonium.

  It was funny how quickly Dillon had come to think of Myles’s place as home. He still had his own apartment, of course. But he spent the majority of his time here, with his boyfriend.

  Myles kept dropping hints about him moving in for good.

  Dillon grinned to himself as he tried to tie his tie in the reflection of the coffee machine, shaking the pan of eggs to make sure they didn’t stick and catching the toast as it popped.

  “Breakfast!” he yelled out.

  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to move in for good, but it seemed sensible to wait out the rest of his lease, which ran out at the end of November. That way, he didn’t have to pay to break out of the contract, and he was already cooking up some kind of grand gesture to accept the offer to move in as part of Myles’s Christmas present.

  Dillon loved this. He fucking loved it. He loved making plans and picking out presents months ahead and organizing vacations and slowly adding his own personal touches to the house. He already had two whole drawers of stuff and half the closet and shoes by the door and food he liked in the fridge.

  He felt complete. Part of a whole.

  A loud, messy whole.

  “Darwin! Come back!”

  Jenny was laughing her head off as she charged after the black Labrador puppy that skidded into the kitchen, no doubt in search of a scrap of the bacon Dillon had frying. Jenny had only half her hair braided on one side and no socks on yet under her pants. Sure enough, a frazzled-looking Myles came running after his daughter and their new dog seconds later, armed with a hairbrush and band.

  “Hang on a second, termite,” he cried. He managed to scoop her up and deposit her at one of the breakfast bar stools, starting on the second pigtail as fast as he could manage.

  “Morning,” Dillon said warmly. He kissed Myles’s cheek as he placed a cup of coffee in front of him and an orange juice in
front of Jenny. “Good morning, superstar! Are you ready for your first day of school?”

  “Yes!” she yelled, punching the air with both fists. “First grade is going to be the best!”

  Dillon shook his head as he plated up their breakfasts. “I don’t know,” he said with a tut. “Kindergarten’s going to be pretty hard to beat, surely?”

  Jenny placed a finger on her chin as she thought about that, Darwin circling her feet excitedly. “It was pretty awesome, but I do think first grade will be better. You get to do more cool stuff! Besides, I can’t have my papa be my teacher,” she added with a scoff. “That would be crazy.”

  Myles choked on his coffee as he looked quickly at Dillon, who laughed and shook his head as he placed a bowl of kibble down for Darwin. Jenny hadn’t called him ‘papa’ before. As much as he appreciated Myles’s concern that it was too soon for that, Dillon had to say he loved it.

  “Uh,” Myles said as he tied off the end of Jenny’s second braid. “I know Dillon is Daddy’s boyfriend, sweetheart, but that doesn’t make him your papa. He’s not replacing your mommy or Rafael.”

  Jenny giggled and used two hands to pick up her juice and take a gulp. “I know that, Daddy,” she said with a fair amount of scorn. “I have one mommy and three daddies. I’m a lucky girl.”

  “You are indeed,” Dillon said, setting down her breakfast and bopping her nose. He and Myles would be driving to the school shortly to meet Corinne and Rafael so they could all see Jenny off together. Dillon thought it was a beautiful example of a thoroughly modern family.

  If he was honest, it had taken a while for him to feel comfortable switching from a teacher to parental roll around her, but she was such a great kid. Once he’d let go of the weirdness, it had been easy because Jenny seemed genuinely thrilled about the whole thing.

  Besides, not that he’d tell a single person at school, but she had always been one of his favorites.

  Myles still looked like he was wrestling with something. Dillon stood next to him and wrapped his arm around his waist. Myles gave him a pained smile, then turned back to Jenny.

  “Hon, you know Daddy and Dillon love each other very much,” he said.

  “Yes, we do,” Dillon interjected, smacking a noisy kiss on Myles’s cheek.

  “Eww!” Jenny said, dissolving into peals of laughter that got Darwin barking and running around his almost empty bowl.

  Myles rolled his eyes at Dillon. “Jenny,” Myles said firmly. “I just want you to understand that Dillon isn’t your papa. He and Daddy would have to get married for that.”

  Jenny shrugged and speared a piece of bacon with her fork. “Mommy says it’s just a matter of time, right? May I please have the maple syrup?”

  “You sure can,” Dillon said, spinning away and fetching it for her. When he faced the breakfast island again, he wiggled his eyebrows at Myles as he handed the bottle over to Jenny.

  Myles was all adorably red and flustered. Dillon fucking loved when he got like that. If they didn’t have to rush to work, he would have dragged him back up to bed there and then. As it was, Dillon would store up his enthusiasm to show Myles how he felt later that night.

  Myles rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh, okay, well, you know you need to remember to call Dillon ‘Mr. Combes’ when you’re at school, right?”

  “Duh,” Jenny said with an eye roll.

  “Less sass,” Myles said seriously with a frown.

  Jenny smiled at him. “Sorry, Daddy,” she said sincerely. “But I know all this. We talked about it and Mom talked about it. It’s not a secret that you and Dillon are boyfriends, but I shouldn’t tell people if they don’t ask.” That last part she recited like she’d been made to repeat it many times. Dillon wouldn’t have put it past Corinne not to rehearse it with her.

  He smiled and finally sat down with his and Myles’s plates of food. “Eat,” he prompted Myles gently.

  Jenny had scarfed down most of her plate already, but to her credit, she hadn’t gotten any down her new T-shirt. She gulped down some more juice and wiped her mouth. “May I please be excused?” she asked eagerly.

  Myles gave her a half smile and rubbed her back. “Sure,” he said. “Make sure you’ve got everything in your backpack – and put some socks on!” he cried after her.

  She and Darwin – who had also wolfed down his breakfast – were already sprinting down the hall. If Dillon had to guess, he would say that she was running back up to her room to say goodbye to the tank full of half a dozen stick bugs Dillon had gotten her for her birthday present last month. The puppy had been an addition for the whole family, but Myles and Dillon had both agreed that the insects were Jenny’s alone to enjoy. It made Dillon smile to even think about the fuss Myles made when they had to get the little guys out to clean the tank.

  But Dillon also knew that whatever made Jenny happy made Myles happy. And whatever made Myles happy made Dillon happy.

  He reached over and squeezed his boyfriend’s knee, pulling him from his reverie.

  “Just a matter of time, huh?” Dillon asked, wiggling his eyebrows again. But Myles looked worried, so he dropped the teasing. “Look, baby, you know I’d never overstep anything here. Your family comes first.”

  “You’re part of my family,” Myles grumbled with a frown.

  Dillon smiled, warmth spreading through his chest. “I just mean,” he said gently, “that Jenny comes first. I’d never want to make her uncomfortable or anything. We haven’t been dating that long. I don’t expect a ring on it anytime soon.”

  Myles huffed and placed his knife and fork down, looking Dillon in the eye. “It’s not that, either,” he said sheepishly. “She loves you. You don’t have to worry about disrupting the balance of the family or anything like that. You make it whole. You fit just perfectly.”

  “Oh,” said Dillon, trying not to let his voice squeak with emotion. “Well, that’s, uh, nice.”

  Myles reached out and took one of Dillon’s hands in his own. When Dillon looked back up, Myles was smiling warmly at him. He rubbed the back of his hand. “Call me old-fashioned, but I like a bit of mystery to these things.”

  Dillon raised his eyebrows. “These things?”

  Myles tilted his head. “I don’t want you thinking it’s enviable we’ll get married, because…” Myles bit his lip, his eyes suddenly glassy.

  “Babe?” Dillon asked in concern. He stood up, turning Myles slightly in his chair so he could stand between his knees and hug him from the front. “What is it?”

  Myles sighed and managed a small, watery smile. “When I proposed to Corinne,” he said, “she told me it was the happiest moment of her life. But…we both know now it wasn’t, not really.” His smile grew bigger, but it was also rueful. “When Rafael proposed, when they got married, when Jenny and her half-brother Carlos were born – those moments were real for her.” He looked up and took Dillon’s face gently between he hands. “If – when – I propose to you, I want you to be surprised. I want it to be so special you’ll remember it forever.”

  “You want me to cry, don’t you?” Dillon said with a shaky laugh. The truth was, he wasn’t far from crying right there and then. “Babe,” he said firmly. “Myles. I…I know we’ve got an amazing thing going on here. So I don’t need to rush it. Take your time, let me get off guard.” He laughed and kissed Myles sweetly on the lips. “Or maybe I’ll propose and surprise you!”

  Myles looked at him, his gorgeous brown eyes serious. “Would you mind if I did it?” he asked. Then he rolled his eyes and chuckled. “You know, not that it’s ‘just a matter of time.’” They both laughed. “But…I’d really love to get it right this time around. With two guys, I get it’s not expected which one should get down on one knee. But it would mean a lot if I could be the one. If that’s all right with you?”

  Dillon swallowed around the lump in his throat, then leaned in to cuddle his boyfriend, resting his temple on his shoulder and breathing in his scent deeply.
“That’s perfect with me,” he said.

  He knew things weren’t guaranteed in this life. He and Myles had only been together for a few months. But Dillon would keep his promises. He would wait and be patient. He’d forget all about the idea of a proposal. Because deep down in his heart he knew he had nothing to fear.

  He and Myles were soulmates. They had taken different paths to find each other, but Dillon had no doubt now that they were just starting the journey of the rest of their lives. They would never stop learning and growing together, building their new, complicated, messy, perfect lives.

  And one day, Dillon knew he might not be totally surprised, but he would cry his eyes out all the same when Myles asked him to marry him, to spend the rest of his life with him. For now, they had everything they needed. Forever was stretched out in front of them.

  They would take it one day at a time. And it would be incredible.

  Thank You

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