Aaron was at home waiting for them after the barbecue. He leaned against the open doorway, arms loosely crossed, and watched as Freddie, Luke, and Reagan Ann headed toward the door. Reagan Ann skipped ahead of them, full of the wiry energy that Freddie knew meant she was exhausted. It was time to put her down for the night.

“Looks like you guys made it out in one piece,” Aaron commented when they were within conversational distance.

“Barely,” Freddie said.

“There was a mean lady, Uncle Aaron,” Reagan Ann clarified. She stood in front of Aaron, looking up at him. “She smelled like camping.”

“Well, that’s a story.” Aaron arched a brow. “If you don’t want to smell like camping, too, you’d better wash up before bed.”

“I don’t want to take a bath,” Reagan Ann groaned. “Why do I hafta?”

“You have to take a bath because being clean is good for your health.” Aaron bopped her playfully on the head. “Go inside now. Why don’t you go get yourself ready for bath time? Your dad will be in shortly.”

Reagan Ann screwed up her face, but she didn’t argue. Instead, she ducked around Aaron’s leg and entered the house, leaving the adults alone. Aaron gave Freddie and Luke a look.

“Do you want to come in, Luke?” Aaron asked. “Freddie’s going to be busy for the next hour or so, but if you guys don’t want to part ways just yet, you’re welcome to come wait on the couch with me while he puts Reagan Ann to bed.”

“If that’s all right with Freddie,” Luke said cautiously.

“Sure.” Freddie wasn’t willing to part ways just yet, either. After what had happened, he needed reassurance that Luke was still the same man he’d known since the beginning. “Thanks, Aaron. I won’t be long.”

“Pretty sure she’s the one who’s going to decide how long you’re going to be,” Aaron said with a laugh. “But it’s no big deal. Let’s go get settled, Luke. Get ready for the most difficult time of the day -- bedtime.”

Luke laughed. They entered the house together, then parted ways. Freddie went to tend to his daughter, but he kept an ear on what was happening in the living room. It warmed his heart to hear Aaron and Luke deep in conversation.

Reagan Ann wasn’t a terror to put to bed that night, and in about forty-five minutes, he was able to return to the living room a free man. Luke stood up when he entered the room.

“I know that we didn’t have too much planned for tonight, but I was wondering if you’d come out with me,” Luke said. “Doesn’t need to be for long, if you don’t want it to be.”

“I’ll watch Reagan Ann tonight,” Aaron said. “... and tomorrow morning, too, if it comes to that. You two have fun, okay?”

Freddie looked Luke over. There was a strange look in his eyes, and a rigidity in his posture that Freddie wasn’t used to. “Sure. Thanks, Aaron.”

“No problem.”

“Let’s take my car,” Luke suggested. He nodded toward the door. “I figure it’ll be easiest that way, and I don’t mind driving.”

“Sure.”

After a quick goodbye to Aaron, they left together. Freddie got settled in the passenger seat, and he was just about to ask Luke what it was that was getting under his skin, when Luke took his chin firmly in his hand and kissed him with a savage, unexpected fervor. Freddie gasped into his mouth in surprise, then melted into the kiss and returned its heat.

“I need you tonight,” Luke said when the kiss broke, his voice equally as hollow as it was seductive. “I need you to come home with me.”

There was something wrong -- Freddie heard it in his voice as much as he detected it in Aaron’s body -- but he couldn’t figure out what it was. He concluded that it had to be whatever Luke’s mother had said to him. He was hurting, Freddie realized. Freddie and Reagan Ann weren’t the only ones who’d been injured from what had happened at the barbecue -- Luke was left just as fragile, if not even more broken than they were.

Freddie had to help him.

“Then take me back to your place,” Freddie demanded in a whisper. He leaned forward again, kissing Luke with blazing passion. It stole the wind from his lungs and left his body aching for more. “I want you, too.”

* * *

Their lips locked. Luke reached blindly behind him, likely searching for a light switch, but gave up when Freddie pulled him away from the wall and across the room. They didn’t need light. Freddie only needed touch and taste. He wouldn’t wait a second longer.

Luke needed him.

It throbbed in his soul like an old wound still in recovery. The aggressive eagerness of Luke’s lips and hands was unlike him, and Freddie wanted more than anything to make his pain go away. They’d both suffered tonight, but now that Freddie had talked himself down from his upset, he understood how much more Luke was hurting.

He would make things right.

His thighs bumped the edge of Luke’s mattress, and instincts took over. Freddie seized a fistful of Luke’s hair and pried him away, breaking the kiss. Luke gasped, forced to follow. He was physically stronger than Freddie, but Freddie knew how to assume control. He wouldn’t let Luke have the upper hand simply because he was bigger.

“Strip,” Freddie uttered.

It was a single command, and a simple one at that, but it did the trick. Through the darkness, Freddie saw Luke’s eyes shade over with lust. He almost tore his shirt from his body, revealing his muscular abs and pecs, then undid his fly and stepped out of his pants. When his thumbs had hooked the elastic of his boxer-briefs, Freddie grabbed his wrists to stop him. He pulled Luke’s hands away from them, then pushed him onto the bed. Before Luke could find the time to regain himself, Freddie had already sunk down to his knees by the bedside. He nuzzled the inside of Luke’s thigh with his cheek, then lifted himself up a little higher and latched his teeth onto the waistband of Luke’s briefs then pulled them down to his knees, then Freddie traveled back up his body to find the gift he’d just unwrapped.

Luke’s cock was hard for him already. It bobbed, fighting gravity over Luke’s stomach. A tempting strand of precum was suspended from its tip, glistening in the pale moonlight from the window. Freddie dipped his head forward and licked it up, then let his tongue circle Luke’s slit before circling his head in full.

Luke moaned, and it was all the encouragement Freddie needed. He swallowed Luke’s cock down to the root, his tongue working overtime to bring Luke the greatest pleasure he could. The tension in Luke’s body relaxed, then returned tighter than before. He reached down to hold Freddie’s head in place, but before he could get his hands on Freddie’s body, Freddie took him by the wrists and pinned his hands to his sides. He bobbed his head, bringing Luke deeper into his throat.

Luke’s moan bubbled up as a partial cry. He bucked his hips and tried to force himself into Freddie, but Freddie was on top, and he was in control. He drew back, allowing Luke’s cock out of his mouth. Then he ran his tongue slowly down Luke’s shaft as Luke whined softly in protest.

“You need to calm down,” Freddie warned. His voice was huskier than he was used to hearing it, and he loved how it sounded. Luke made him feel powerful. “I want you to let go of whatever you’re feeling. Tonight, you’re mine.”

Luke moaned yet again, and his hips arched in desperation. Freddie squeezed his wrists and sucked one of his balls into his mouth, caressing it with his tongue. When Luke’s body fell slack on the bed, Freddie released him completely and stood. Luke raised up his head to look at Freddie, and Freddie returned his stare.

“Do you have condoms?” Freddie asked. He was rock hard and ready.

“Yes,” Luke said breathlessly. He tried to get up to find them, but Freddie pushed him down onto the bed once again.

“Tell me where they are,” Freddie said. “I want you to stay still. You’re not to move a muscle.”

Luke’s chest was rising and falling rapidly. “T-The drawer. Top drawer.”

Freddie located the drawer in question, finding not only a box of condoms, but lube as well. He brought both items back to the bed, casting the box aside once he’d selected a single wrapped condom. He tore the packaging and rolled the condom down his own shaft, delighting when he saw the surprise and greed on Luke’s face.

Then Freddie snapped open the bottle of lube.

“I need you to loosen yourself for me,” Freddie said. He parted Luke’s legs with his thigh, then let his lubricated fingers work in slow circles around Luke’s tight hole. “You need to relax. Do you think you can do that for me? Do you think you can let me in?”

“Yes,” Luke mewled. It was like Freddie had flipped a switch inside of Luke -- his aggression had turned into limitless submission. Almost all at once, he loosened, and Freddie tried to push inside. His fingers slipped in after some struggle. Luke was tight, and he was still tense.

It looked like Freddie had more work to do.

“You don’t need to be so uptight,” Freddie uttered. He worked his fingers in and out, putting pressure against different places in Luke’s body around where he knew his prostate should be. When Luke sucked in an urgent breath and his body squeezed around Freddie’s fingers, Freddie knew he’d found the mark. He worked his hand in a rhythm, using his fingers to make sure Luke was slick while also driving pleasure again and again where it mattered the most.

Luke couldn’t stop moaning.

Freddie pushed again and again. He introduced more lubricant and worked it into Luke’s body, then slipped in another finger as Luke crumbled to pieces. Another strand of precum had leaked from his cock, dangling over his stomach. Freddie used his free hand to work it down Luke’s shaft, pumping him at the same time as he stretched his ass.

“Take me,” Luke begged. His voice was almost rasped it was so hoarse. “I need you. I need you so badly.”

“Is that so?” Freddie thrust in again, and Luke’s cock throbbed in his hand. It was the sexiest feeling in the world to know he was the master of Luke’s pleasure. “You want to be fucked, Luke?”

Luke’s cock throbbed again. Freddie almost mounted him right then and there.

“You want me to fill you?”

“Yes!” Luke almost sobbed. All of his aggression had softened, and he’d grown kitten weak. He was Freddie’s, and Freddie’s alone. Freddie would do whatever it took to make sure Luke knew it body and soul.

Freddie rose up the bed, his fingers still lodged in Luke’s body. He leaned down over Luke and took his lips in a scorching kiss. Luke hummed into his mouth, parting his lips to trace his tongue against Freddie’s. Freddie’s tongue met his own, and invaded his mouth and dominated him wholly.

The whimpered sounds of delight Luke made were too good to resist. Freddie pulled his fingers from Luke’s body. He pushed in his cock to take their place.

Luke cried out into his mouth and wiggled his hips. Freddie pushed deeper, forcing his way through Luke’s tightness and claiming him as his own. Luke’s body pulsed around him, and his cock followed suit.

It’s so ridiculously hot to feel him pulsing around me like this... to know that I’m the one making his body go crazy. I never want him to forget what it feels like to belong to me. Never.

Freddie bottomed out inside of Luke, and Luke cried into his mouth and pumped his hips. His cock glided in Freddie’s clutching hand, more precum leaking from its tip to make what they shared messier. Freddie loved it. He loved how wet Luke was getting for him, and how his cock throbbed when it was wrapped in his tight grip. He pumped harder with his fist and drew back with his hips, then sank into Luke all over again.

Tears streamed down Luke’s face silently, and Freddie ended their kiss when he noticed. “Are you okay?”

“Yes.” Luke’s voice was lost to his passion. “Feels so good. Don’t stop. Don’t ever stop.”

Freddie didn’t want to. He thrust into Luke with renewed abandon, and Luke cried out into the silent room, no longer obstructed by Freddie’s lips.

“Yes,” Luke uttered. “Oh, fuck, yes. Fuck me! I’m going to come!”

Freddie’s focus sharpened. He watched Luke close his eyes and throw his head back, then felt the first tightening squeeze around his cock. Freddie’s own balls drew up in response, and orgasm washed through him recklessly as Luke came. He pumped his hips into Luke, burying himself deep while Luke shot into his hand. His own cum pooled in the reservoir at the top of the condom, and Freddie took a moment to lie still on Luke’s chest while he struggled to recover his breath.

“F-Fuck,” Luke uttered. He lay spent beneath Freddie. “That... that was amazing.”

“Are you feeling any better?” Freddie asked. Slowly, he withdrew from Luke’s body and disposed of the condom. It didn’t feel right not to be close to Luke, so he settled back down on the bed and drew Luke into his arms. They cuddled.

“I think so.”

“Well... until you know for sure, I guess I can’t leave, can I?” Freddie grinned. He pressed a kiss to the corner of Luke’s mouth. “If you end up getting upset again, I’ll have to work it out of you like I did just now.”

“I’d be disappointed if you didn’t,” Luke admitted. “I’ll need to be monitored overnight. Just in case.”

“Of course.” Freddie chuckled. “Just in case.”

“I’ll pay you back by making breakfast tomorrow morning,” Luke said. “What do you say?”

Freddie closed his eyes, happy just to listen to Luke’s heartbeat and breathe in the scent of his skin. “I say that you don’t have to pay me with anything other than sharing tonight... but if you want to sweeten the deal with breakfast, I’m not going to fight you on it.”

They both laughed. Laughing led to kissing, and kissing to touching, and it wasn’t long before Freddie was tearing open another condom to slide down his rock-hard cock. He was in Luke again before the hour was through, and they spent the rest of the night wrapped up in each other’s bodies until they were too exhausted to continue.

It hadn’t been such a great day, but Freddie went to sleep that night more confident than ever that his relationship with Luke could work. They were ironing out their futures together one bumbling step forward at a time, and the more they got it wrong, the more they got it right.

The missteps of tomorrow were waiting for them, and Freddie was eager to get through them together with Luke. He couldn’t deny it -- he was falling in love. He’d gladly face whatever obstacles came next as long as Luke remained by his side.