by TJ Klune
“That was pretty great,” he said.
I leaned down and kissed the tip of his nose. “Only the best for you.”
His smile faded as I reached down between us, gripping us both. I jacked us off slowly, relishing the way we felt together. I rocked my hips in time with my hand, thrusting up against him. He bit his bottom lip. I leaned down and did the same.
“Stuff’s in the top drawer,” he said, his lips against mine. “If that’s what you want.”
It was.
I sat back on him. I leaned over to the small nightstand next to the bed. I found a pump bottle of lube and a box of condoms, unopened. I hid my smile as I set them on the bed next to him.
“So here’s what’s going to happen,” I told him conversationally. “You’re going to stretch me open while I suck your dick. And then I’m going to ride you.”
He gaped up at me.
No time like the present. He’d figure it out.
I turned around carefully, not wanting an accidental injury to end the festivities. My knees were on either side of his chest, and he ran his hands up the backs of my thighs to my ass. He grunted when I took him in my mouth. He smelled of clean sweat as I pressed my nose against his balls, my throat working around him.
“Jesus fuck,” he muttered, and then there was a wet finger or two pressing against my asshole. I sucked him harder as he pressed the finger into me, the burn causing my throat to constrict slightly. He was gentle and careful, stretching me open at a leisurely pace.
A little while later, he slapped my ass. “Turn around.”
I let his dick fall out of my mouth. It slapped wetly against his stomach. My lips were numb, and I wiped spit from my chin. I crawled back around to see him tearing at a condom wrapper with his teeth. He spit a piece of it to his side and pulled the condom out. He was about reach between us to put it on, but I shook my head and took it from him. “I wanna do it.”
He nodded as he settled back against the bed. “Okay.”
I slid the condom onto his dick, squeezing the base. He made a wounded noise, the muscles in his stomach contracting. I chuckled darkly as I reached for the lube. I pumped it, getting more than enough. I slid my hand over the rubber, never taking my eyes from his. “Still good?” I asked him quietly.
“Still good,” he whispered.
I leaned down and kissed him before sitting back up. I wiped my hand on my shirt. I’d have to borrow one of his later, and the thought shouldn’t have done as much for me as it did.
I watched him as I raised myself up and reached behind me. His eyes widened as I lifted his dick and pressed it against my asshole. I swallowed thickly, throat clicking, as I lowered myself onto him.
“Fuuuck,” I moaned as he filled me, the burn bright and sharp. I took my time, getting used to the intrusion, and by the time I was fully seated against him, I was sweating. I pressed my hands against his chest as I hung my head, trying to catch my breath.
He reached up, fingers against my cheek. I turned my face and kissed his palm.
“I’m okay,” I told him. “You… you can move now.”
He sat up quickly, wrapping his arms around me. His chest pressed against mine, his feet flat against the floor off the side of the bed. I circled my legs around his waist. We were face-to-face when he tentatively thrust up into me. I groaned at the feel of him. He thrust again, harder this time, lifting me up and then pulling me back down in time with the snap of his hips. My dick rubbed against the hair on his stomach, and I could barely keep my eyes open.
He kissed me as he fucked me. I gasped into his mouth. He sucked on my tongue. I clawed at his back as he pulled away, his face going into my shoulder. He said my name again and again and again, and I swore it sounded like a prayer.
It’d never been like this before. I wasn’t pressed down face-first into the sheets while someone took me from behind. I could feel his breath on my skin, the slickness of his hair between my fingers. I held him close as he fucked me harder.
It was only moments before he leaned back, pushing a hand against my chest. “Jerk yourself off on me,” he said.
I did. I timed my hand with the thrust of his hips, the harsh slap of skin. I spilled first, my hand stuttering against my cock as I came on his chest and stomach. He said my name again before his hips stilled, his body jerking underneath me. I kissed his cheek and nose and chin as he rode through it.
We were both breathing heavily by the time it was over.
“Whoa,” I said. “You’re really good at that. Thanks.”
And he laughed.
HE LEFT me on the bed while he went to the bathroom to get a towel and to discard the condom. I grinned into his pillow when I heard him whistling cheerfully. I had barely closed my eyes when a wet cloth was pressed against me. It was warm, and I didn’t think much of it when he spread my legs to clean my ass.
“We didn’t get any on the bed,” I told him. “Yay us.”
He snorted. “Yay us. Because you would have made me lay in the wet spot, I’m sure.”
“S’only fair. I’m a guest in your house. That’s the polite thing to do.”
“That right?”
I yawned widely, my jaw cracking. “Yep.”
“I’ll remember that when we’re at your house, then.”
I liked the sound of that.
He dropped the towel to the floor and motioned for me to scoot over. I did, lifting my hips so I could pull the comforter down. He climbed into bed with a groan. We were both still naked, and it felt more intimate than I was expecting. I didn’t know why, but I was suddenly shy, for fuck’s sake. I blinked up at the ceiling as he pulled the comforter back over us.
“Okay?” he asked as he settled back on the pillow.
“Yeah,” I said. “Just… today was weird.”
“A little. Good weird, though.”
“You danced in the streets for me.”
“I did.”
I turned my head to look at him. Our faces were inches apart. “Why?”
He reached up and tugged gently on my hair. If it’d been most anyone else, they would have lost a finger or two. Quite possibly the whole hand. Him, though? It was all right. “Why what?”
“Why everything?”
“That’s… not very specific.”
I shoved his face as he laughed. “For real!”
“For real,” he agreed as he tried to bite my finger. I pulled it away just in time.
“Everyone knew.”
“They did. I’m actually surprised they were able to keep it a secret. No offense, none of you are exactly… subtle.”
“I take all the offense,” I told him. “On their behalf too.”
“Sledgehammer, remember?”
“Vaguely.”
He shook his head. “I just needed you to know that I was serious. That since we’re gonna do this thing, I’m all in. And Sandy said that the only way you’d believe me was a big spectacle.” He frowned. “Now that I think about it, I should have known by the way he was grinning at me that he was giving me shit.”
“Undoubtedly. And yet here we are.”
“Here we are.”
I traced a finger over his eyebrows. “What about waiting?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t want to wait anymore. I notified the university. Oh, by the way, you’re going to have to sign some paperwork, just to keep everything on the up-and-up.”
“Like a love contract?”
He groaned as he rolled over onto his back. “Jesus Christ.”
I laughed at him. “You’re making me sign a love contract.”
“I take it all back,” he said, staring at the ceiling with a pretty scowl. “I changed my mind about all of this.”
“Nah. Dude, it’s already out there. You told the university. About your love.”
He snorted. “Dude, like, totally.”
I laid my head on his shoulder, and he wrapped an arm around me, holding me close. “Did you get shit for it?”
“E
h. A little. Mostly from a couple of my colleagues, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. But I made it clear to the powers that be that nothing happened while I was your professor and that you wouldn’t be in any of my classes again.”
“What if I want to come and blow you in your office?”
He jostled me. “Don’t even try it.”
“You say that now. Just you wait.” I hesitated. “You sure about this?”
He kissed the top of my head. “I’ve never been surer about anything in my life. This… I wasn’t expecting it. Wasn’t expecting you. I thought I was okay with the way things were, but looking back, I don’t know how I convinced myself of that. And it’s not just about you, though you’re the biggest part of it.” He sighed. “It was the way that Sandy lit up when he was telling me about what he thought I should do. It was the way that Paul and Vince were on board immediately. Hell, even Darren only complained a little bit. And then Nana and Larry and Matty got involved. And Charlie and Dad, and I remember him hearing about all this for the first time, sitting with Charlie’s arm around him, and I swear to god, I’ve never seen him so happy before. It was like he had this… light burning inside of him. And it was because of me and how stupid I was over you that I was even considering doing this, but also because of how he felt being surrounded by all these people who love you. You and Charlie, you’ve given us a place to belong. A place where we don’t have to be anything but who we are. I think—I think we forgot what that was like. It was just us for a long time.”
“But not anymore,” I whispered.
He nodded against my head. “Not anymore. And that’s how I know I’m sure. Even if I had any doubts, the way that they all dropped everything just to make sure this went like it did… well. How could I not want to be part of that? And still it all came back to you. Because you’re the best part of all of it.”
I kissed the underside of his jaw. “We are pretty great. And dear god, please tell me there are videos of whatever slapdash rehearsal you guys had. I want to laugh for days.”
He growled at me as he rolled over on top of me. The weight of him was warm and real. I didn’t know what I’d done to get to this place, but it must have been something right. “There might be a video or two,” he said begrudgingly. “And I’m sure what happened today was recorded by more people than I care to think about.”
“Probably already online. Gonna go viral.”
He groaned as he pressed his forehead to mine. “I’m never going to hear the end of this.”
“Once I sign that love contract, you can sure as shit bet on it.”
“Would you stop calling it that?”
I kissed him. We were both laughing, but we went for it as best we could.
And that’s life, I thought to myself as he grinned against me. Doing all you can with everything you have.
Because this? All of this?
It’s worth fighting for.
Always.
Epilogue: So Long, My Old Friends
MY PHONE rang.
I was distracted, scowling at my laptop. I’d been going through this goddamn spreadsheet for what felt like hours, and my eyes were burning.
I picked up the phone without looking at it. “This is Kori Ellis.”
A small voice whispered, “Kori?
I blinked. “Yes?”
“I can seeeee you.” There were giggles in the background. I would recognize that sound anywhere.
I shook my head. I swore to god, these kids were going to be the death of me. “Can you now?” I asked as I sat back in my chair. “Should I be scared?”
“So scared,” the little girl whispered.
“I don’t know,” I said slowly. “Because I think I know who this is.”
“No you don’t!”
“Are you sure? Because I think this might be a niece of mine. A niece who might have stolen the phone from her uncle.”
Lily Thompson gasped. “How did you know?” The phone was muffled. “Noah! He knows. He knows.” Noah Thompson started laughing in the background.
I grinned. “Does Uncle Ty know you stole his cell phone?”
“No,” Lily said, sounding annoyed. “He’s too busy panicking.”
I groaned. “Still? He’s supposed to be babysitting you, not panicking.”
“That’s what I said, but then he said that everybody panics before they get married.”
“They do,” I said gently. “But your uncle is being a drama queen. Like usual.”
“Hi, Uncle Corey!”
I winced as I pulled the phone away, even as Lily admonished him lightly because they were talking to Aunt Kori, couldn’t he tell by the way I sounded? She was too smart for her own good. I loved them dearly.
“Hi, Aunt Kori! Sorry!”
“Hi, Noah,” I said. “And it’s okay. You can’t see me. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“Okay! Legos!”
“Uh-huh. Legos.”
Then they both squealed as another voice said, “Who are you talking—is that my phone? Lily, I told you that you can’t just take it and call whoever you want! Last time you did that, you ordered sixteen pizzas!”
“The seagulls were hungry!” I heard Lily exclaim before the phone was wrestled away from her. “And I needed to feed them!”
“Who is this?” Ty demanded into the phone.
“Hi, Ty,” I said dryly. “Babysitting sounds like it’s going well.”
“Kori,” Ty said, sighing in relief. “Jesus, I’m sorry. Certain someones are going to have to hear again about respecting the belongings of others—and they’re already gone. Dom. Dom! Incoming children! It’s your turn to deal with them!”
“Where are Bear and Otter?” I asked, glancing back at my laptop before closing it. I’d had enough for the day.
“Date night,” Ty muttered. “They do it once a month now. Stupid, right?”
“Eh. Jeremy and I do the same thing.”
“Yeah, but you don’t have any kids to pawn off before you go. Especially when you’re getting married in two weeks.”
“Right,” I said. “Because I would know nothing about having to take care of a bunch of kids.”
I could hear him scowling through the phone. “That’s not the same thing.” He paused, considering. “Actually, now that I think about it, it’s probably worse for you. I only have two four-year-olds to worry about. You have… what. A dozen teenagers?”
I snorted. “On a slow day. And we don’t really have those anymore. We had at least thirty here today.”
“Christ, man. You and Bear. I don’t know how you do it.”
“He’s a teacher,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, but you’re the director.”
I laughed at how proud he sounded. “I guess I am.” I looked around my office at Phoenix House. It hadn’t changed much over the past five years, but since I’d moved into it eight months ago, it’d become my home away from home. I reached out and straightened one of the photographs on the desk, the one of Jeremy and me holding a SOLD! sign in front of our new house. That had been a good day.
“Sunk in yet?”
“Not really,” I said quietly. “I’ve been too busy to even really think about it. I don’t know how Sienna or Jeremy did it.” Sienna had been the previous director, coming on in the fall after Jeremy left. When she announced she had taken a position elsewhere last year, Marina told me I needed to apply for the position, and she wouldn’t take no for an answer. I’d come back here after I graduated, much to her delight. Sienna had agreed, saying that I was perfect for the job and that no one had more passion for our work than me.
I’d gone home that night and talked it over with Jeremy, even though I already knew what he was going to say. It didn’t take much convincing. I only found out later that they didn’t even consider anyone else.
“Well, you earned it, Kori,” Ty said in my ear. “I was impressed when I saw it last summer. I don’t think they’d survive without you. All those kids adore
you.”
I snorted. “Most of them.”
“Couple of troublemakers, huh?”
“A few. Nothing I can’t handle. Now what’s this about you panicking?”
He sighed. “It’s… ugh. I’m not panicking.”
“Prewedding jitters?”
“Yeah, but I think it’s a good thing, you know? I’m not having second thoughts or anything,” he added quickly.
“I know. You’re inevitable.”
“We are,” he agreed. “And after all we’ve been through… it’s just a lot to take in.”
“You talk to Dom about it?”
“Yeah,” Ty said. “And you know how he is. He listens and then tells me I’m being dumb, and then he kisses me and everything is okay again.”
“I can’t wait to see you,” I said softly.
“Me too. It’s been too long. Jeremy still can’t make it for the ceremony?”
“No. He and Dad had that trip planned for a long time. He feels bad, but they’ll come up after with everyone else before you and Dom leave on your honeymoon.”
“He and Dad,” Ty said teasingly. “Robert finally convinced you, huh?”
“He did. It….” I shook my head even though he couldn’t see me. “It feels right.”
“Good. Because it is. And before too long, you’ll probably know exactly what I’m feeling right now if Jeremy gets off his ass and proposes to you.”
“Maybe.” Or maybe I should be the one proposing. One day.
“I can’t believe you all are coming up,” Tyson said. “We’ve gone this long without having Bear and Paul in the same room. It’s going to be like a cracked-out queer version of the Avengers.”
I laughed. “That’s one way of looking at. And imagine if Sandy got his movie star cousin to come with all his friends and—”
“Noah, no! You can’t draw on the wall! Why on earth would you think that’s—Kori, I gotta go. Picasso here suddenly found his muse. Love you! Miss you! Can’t wait to see you!”
And he was gone even before I could say anything more.
