CHAPTER 4

 

”Ladies and gentlemen, we are ready for take-off!”

A disembodied voice informed them about what was happening next. Joel couldn’t help feeling just a tiny bit apprehensive as the airplane started to taxi out onto the tarmac. Outside, a heavy autumn rain was falling, but luckily there was hardly any wind. Take-off should be smooth. Or so he hoped. His mouth was dry from uneasiness, but he resisted the urge to root around in his bag for his bottle of water, not wanting Lucas to see his shaking hands as he held said bottle. He had of course flown before, but never anywhere near this far away. New York… He still had a hard time believing he was actually going to be living in New York. So far, his only knowledge of the city came from movies and TV, but he realized seeing the place in real life would be much more impressive. It all just seemed so unreal. Feeling Lucas reaching out and taking his hand, he looked over at the amazing looking man at his side, smiling at him. Feeling his warmth against him made Joel relax and breathe easier. It would be ok.

Once again, he was struck by the thought that if he hadn’t come by Lucas’ crashed car by the side of the road that day in early winter last year, they would probably never have met. A weird thought, all that circumstance working in their favor, all that coincidence. Squeezing Lucas’ hand a little, he sat back and tried to calm his beating heart, galloping from nervousness. He closed his eyes, only to feel a breath of warm air over his left ear.

“When we’re up to cruising altitude, I can help you relax more…”

Joel felt his face go all red, but he couldn’t help laughing quietly at Lucas. The man had got it in his head they were definitely joining the mile-high club. Even if it sounded childish and perhaps not suitable for a police officer, Joel had to admit the thought of being so naughty made him horny.

As for police officer. Well, he wasn’t one anymore. He had handed in his gun and ID when leaving the week before. Quitting his job. Another strange action. Never in his life had he thought he would quit the force. Not after working so hard to get where he was.

Packing up the cabin had been both sad and exciting. It made everything so real and had finally driven home that he was in fact leaving. Luckily, he didn’t have many plants or other things that needed attending and the few he did have had been left with Grandpa. Anita had promised to keep them alive when he and Lucas came by to say their goodbyes. Knowing Grandpa wasn’t alone made things a lot easier, even if it would feel strange to be so far away from his only living relative. At that moment, he suddenly understood Lucas so much better and how he must miss being close to his family.

Lars had, of course, made sure they got a send-off party, inviting mainly colleagues and the team to his house for a barbecue. They had finally got to meet Sophia and Joel had to bite his lip to not blurt out something stupid as she was introduced. She was almost as tall as Lucas, making her tower over Lars by a few inches as Joel estimated she must be close to 6 ft. Combined with her long, blonde hair, blue eyes and cheekbones to match, she looked like the quintessential Nordic goddess. Then she opened her mouth and it became clear she wasn’t exactly goddess material. More devil if anything. When he had recovered from the initial shock from her directness and rather crude sense of humor, Joel found he really liked Sophia and he could see how she would be a good match to Lars. She could match him in many ways like Lucas matched him, all while they laughed themselves silly at Sophia’s more often than not dirty jokes. Even though a few colleagues made jokes about the difference in height, Lars and Sophia seemed completely comfortable with him reaching just slightly above her shoulder. Joel thought that was what mattered and was genuinely happy for his friend.

Surprisingly, the hardest part was saying goodbye to Koda. He knew it wasn’t possible, but he felt like she knew he and Lucas would be gone for a long time. She was whining and pushing her body against his legs as he spoke to Lars giving him a few last bits of advice on how to care for his dog. Her likes and dislikes, favorite foods, particular areas to scratch to make her melt onto the floor. Feeling her warm, furry body against his legs, almost made him start crying. Her dark brown eyes seemed to accuse him of making the most terrible mistake as she was staring up at him imploringly. He almost changed his mind, even though that would make no sense at all after quitting his job and saying goodbye to everyone. Finally, after an extended hug when he dug his fingers into her coarse fur and rubbed his face in the softer hair on top of her head between her ears, he turned and left. He could hear her howling as he made his way to his car and once inside at the driver’s seat he had to sit for a moment and focus on calming down before he could drive. When he got home and saw Lucas, he had indeed cried. Lucas only held him and let him cry, no stranger to strong emotion himself. In fact, he had been pretty weepy saying goodbye to Koda himself when Joel had loaded her in the car.

And now, here they were. Buckled up and on their way. Lucas had excitedly gone over all the details about his life back home once more, just to make sure Joel knew what to expect. He told him about his apartment on Manhattan, close to his parent’s apartment, and that his brother lived outside the city, in a suburb he couldn’t remember the name of, with his family of a wife and two girls. Apparently, his brother wasn’t in the family business of law, but had chosen to become an engineer and spent his days designing large structures like bridges and roads. Joel was looking forward to meeting him, having heard so many stories from Lucas about them growing up.

He was sort of looking forward to meeting the parents again, even if the thought made him a bit nervous. During their stay in May, he had sometimes felt kind of stupid when the three members of the Berg family started a discussion. It all went so fast and he had to concentrate hard to even understand what they were saying. Lucas on occasion stopped to check on him, but he couldn’t very well complain about them having a good time. When the questions focused on him, everything seemed to slow down to a crawl and his stuttering made him even more self-conscious. Eventually, he had relaxed and enjoyed their stay. He was ever so slightly grateful to see them leave, though. Now, there would be even more people to keep up with. Not to mention kids. Although, he wasn’t very worried about the children. For some reason, he had always had a way with kids, despite the fact his size should scare them to death.

Knowing Lucas had his own place where they would live, was a huge relief. At least they weren’t staying with his parents. As luck would have it, it was no trouble to get the person renting the place to move out. Lucas had rented it to a cousin, who had now decided to go live with his girlfriend. So they were all set. One less worry.

Leaning back as the plane leveled out, he looked out the tiny window. The ground had already disappeared beneath the clouds and all he could see was fluffy white. Remembering how he used to imagine the clouds being ice cream growing up and fantasizing about eating it all, he smiled to himself. Such silly ideas kids had.

“What are you thinking?” Lucas was pressing himself up against him.

“Just how I always wished clouds were made of ice cream when I was young.” He turned towards Lucas and smiled. “Kids are kind of weird, right?”

“I don’t know. Interpreting the world based on prior knowledge isn’t stupid. You go on what you know. If the only white fluffy thing you’ve seen is ice cream, it makes sense to assume. Even if it seems ludicrous now.” Lucas’ smile turned impish. “I know something else white and creamy good for licking…”

Joel felt his face go bright red at hearing his comment. Another part of him wasn’t quite as embarrassed.

“Don’t say stuff like that!” he hissed, afraid someone would hear over the hum of the engines.

“Come on! We have to try it! No one will know…” The coaxing wasn’t as effective as Lucas’ hand discretely reaching down to his crotch and giving him a squeeze. Joel drew a sharp breath and already knew he had lost this battle. He would never be able to dissuade Lucas. Going by the response from his body, he doubted he actually wanted to. Grinding discretely against Lucas’ hand, he let his body decide what to do. The choice didn’t surprise him.

They stayed in their seats to let the attendants distribute the first drinks of the flight. Lucas insisted on buying champagne, even though Joel tried to tell him it was too expensive and he’d much rather have a beer.

“We’re not drinking beer. Don’t ruin my romantic fantasy here!” Jokingly, Lucas pouted at him.

“Romantic...?” Joel chuckled at him. “More like cheesy.”

“I bet you won’t complain when you’re halfway down my throat…” Lucas leered at him.

“Shut up!” Once again, Lucas succeeded in making him blush all over. Joel almost expected his ears to burst into flames from how red they turned.

When Lucas finally had bought the champagne and they each held a miniature airplane flute toasting each other, Joel had to admit the choice of beverage did have a certain feel to it. It made him feel like he actually belonged there, with a gorgeous man at his side on his way to New York. Not like a hillbilly cop from the outback. Well, not so much anyway. He sipped the champagne, trying hard not to scrunch his nose as the tiny bubbles tickled him. Glancing over at Lucas, he saw him nonchalantly flipping through a magazine looking just like he flew this route frequently, not bothered by anything. He opened his own reading material, a crime novel he had bought at the airport. The combination of champagne and reading made him eventually relax. It didn’t relax all of him, though. In fact, he was suddenly hornier than in a long time. The idea of Lucas sucking him off somewhere on the airplane was going around and around in his mind, making him shift uncomfortably in his seat as he tried to find some way to sit without discomfort. It was starting to become a problem, sitting there so very hard. He didn’t want to say anything since that would prove Lucas right. Instead, he was trying to think of a way to get Lucas to think it was actually still his idea, so he would continue his coaxing and thereby give Joel a chance to gracefully give in.

After squirming in his seat for ten minutes and feeling his hard cock rub and leak against the inside of his underwear but without getting any attention from Lucas, he decided to take off his jacket and then stretch a little. Just a little to let his t-shirt ride up ever so slightly…

“You think I don’t know what you’re doing?” Lucas’ voice held that special note that made him sit up and listen. “You are a naughty boy, aren’t you? Sitting there, squirming in your seat thinking naughty thoughts?”

As Lucas skimmed his hand up the inside of his thigh, Joel spread his legs hoping for more intimate contact. Lucas didn’t disappoint him, cupping his balls through his pants and then pressing the hilt of his hand against his cock. Joel pressed back enjoying the friction, a low moan escaping his mouth. He bit his lip, in an attempt at holding it together. Although, he wasn’t really sure he actually wanted to. Of course, any more public affection than this was not going to happen, but perhaps it wasn’t such a bad idea to have some fun in the somewhat privacy of the airplane restroom. He couldn’t figure out how they would both fit inside, though.

“Go to the restroom in the back, the one on the left. I’ll follow you soon and knock three times on the door.” Lucas tried to sound like his usual calm and collected self, but his voice had a breathy quality to it, revealing just how turned on he was.

Nodding, he shakily got up of his seat. He noticed he had to adjust himself to avoid letting everyone in on their plan. Even after that, he felt like he was on display, his hardness clearly outlined through his jeans. Lucas had worn sweats, which he briefly thought could have worked better. Then he glanced down at Lucas’ crotch and saw him tenting his pants. He chuckled. It seemed he wasn’t the only one who was looking forward to this. Lucas caught him looking and smiled at him wickedly.

“You like what you see? Now go!”

Joel made his way to the back of the plane. The left restroom was, of course, busy, but not the right. Feeling a bit stupid, he tried to act casual just standing there as if hanging out in the back of a plane was something he did all the time. A couple of the attendants tried to usher him into the other restroom, but he pretended to not understand. Remembering an article in the crappy in-flight magazine, he started doing some heel raises to make them think he was just trying to avoid blood clots or stiffness. Again, he had to bite his lip, but this time to stop the laugh that wanted out when he realized he was in fact back here to deal with stiffness. Just not the one mentioned in that magazine.

Finally, the woman in the left restroom came out and he went in as quick as possible. The room was even tighter than he’d imagined. He could easily reach both the walls and the roof without even stretching very much. Standing there waiting for Lucas, his pulse started racing and he couldn’t resist the urge to open his fly and squeeze himself just a little. Thinking of Lucas’ mouth on him, had him breathing hard and Lucas wasn’t even here yet. However they managed to do this, it would probably be quick.

Three fast raps at the door startled him and for a moment he didn’t move. Then he opened the door and backing as far back as he could he made room for Lucas. With both of them in there, there was no way either could move very much. Lucas pressed him up against the far wall, making him stand with his feet on either side of the toilet seat. He put his hand on Joel’s bulging cock.

“So, you decided to start without me? Already nice and hard…” Lucas let his hand slowly stroke his cock through the fabric of his underwear. “Lean back for me. I want to taste you.”

With that, Lucas fell to his knees and started to free his aching cock, pulling down his pants and briefs midway to his thighs, making it even harder for Joel to move as his legs were already restricted by the cramped space. Looking up at Joel, he started licking his cock from root to tip in slow, teasing motions. Joel put his hands out, pressing them into the walls on either side to hold himself up as his knees threatened to give out in him.

“Yeah, that feels so good…” The words left him with a sigh, as he felt the slickness of Lucas’ tongue work him over, not forgetting his balls. He let his head fall back and groaned towards the ceiling.

When Lucas suddenly took him in his warm, wet mouth, his attempts at stifling any sound and keep the volume down made him make a strange high-pitched sound in the back of his throat. Not really effective for keeping the other passengers in the dark. It didn’t deter Lucas from what he was doing, though. In fact, he seemed to double his efforts, causing more equally inappropriate but unstoppable sounds to escape. It was just so very good and having to be quiet added to the feeling.

Just when Joel didn’t think the experience could get any better, Lucas withdrew from his cock. Confused and disappointed, he managed to focus long enough to look down. When he saw Lucas looking up at him, mischievously wetting two of his fingers, his cock lurched and dribbled. He tried to widen his stance, but couldn’t do much in the confined condition he was in.

“Relax for me.” As Lucas reached between his legs and towards his backside, he once again took his cock in his mouth. Joel felt the fingers touch and circle his entrance and drew a deep breath. He so wanted this. Never in his life had he imagined being horny beyond control on an airplane mid-flight. Now, all he could think about was allowing Lucas to do whatever he wanted. He whimpered as he tried to grind down on the exploring fingers.

Without removing his mouth, Lucas let him have his way. As he was stretched by the fingers, Joel shifted his hands to the ceiling. With his eyes closed, he helplessly rode those fingers and thrust into that warm mouth. All that existed was his need to come. Overpowering all his shyness.

“Lucas, I’m going to come…” Joel was panting hard and had trouble getting the words out. He still wanted to warn Lucas, to prevent any mishap in the semi-public place. When he felt Lucas speeding up and increasing suction, he let go. With a few involuntary thrusts, he came hard. He grabbed Lucas by the hair on the back of his head and pushed himself even further into that heavenly Slip’N Slide. When Lucas choked, he let go and looked down at him with worry.

“Are you ok? I didn’t mean to choke you.”

Lucas grinned up at him, wiping his mouth with the back of his free hand. Joel grimaced when he removed his fingers slowly.

“Are you kidding me? Seeing you lose it like that is the sexiest thing I know!” Lucas got up from the floor. Joel tried to get them to reverse positions, but Lucas put his hand on his chest.

“That’s not necessary.”

“But I want to… I mean, you should also…” Joel didn’t want Lucas to suffer through the rest of the flight hard and uncomfortable.

“It’s not necessary…” Lucas raised an eyebrow and made a sweeping motion down towards his lower body, making Joel follow his movement with his gaze. Joel didn’t know what Lucas meant until he suddenly noticed traces of semen on Lucas’ sweats. When he looked more carefully, there was also evidence of their activity on one of the walls. Their eyes met and they broke out laughing, desperately trying to stifle the sound.

“Ok, so you’re… already taken care of?”

“That particular matter has been handled in a satisfactory manner…” Lucas’ deadpan answer had Joel laughing even harder. He really felt like a kid now, a naughty kid doing something he shouldn’t. In a way, it felt liberating to just let go for a moment. It wasn’t like they were hurting anyone. Except maybe someone waiting to use the restroom. Glancing at his watch, he saw they had been in there close to 20 minutes. Shit! That was a long time.

“We should get out of here.”

Lucas bent down and wiped off both himself and the wall, then washed his hands before answering.

“I’m going to smell like spunk the whole way home… You sexy bastard!” He playfully swatted Joel’s upper left arm. “Ok, I’ll go first and then you wait for a minute before you leave.”

When Lucas had left, Joel sat down on the toilet seat. He could suddenly smell the very distinctive scent of sex in the air and desperately wished for an air freshener or a match. Neither was available. When he thought an appropriate amount of time had passed, he exited the restroom. Just outside the door, he practically walked into one of the attendants. It was a pretty blonde woman that had spoken to them a few times, getting their drinks and making sure they were comfortable. When she saw who he was, she smiled at him and her cheeks turned slightly pink. Turning to the side, she let him pass and he made his way back to their seats. Lucas let him get by and when he sat down he got a kiss. He thought he could still taste himself on Lucas’ tongue and without thinking he deepened their kiss. A small ‘hrumph’ made them both turn their heads. Standing next to them in the aisle was the attendant. She had a mischievous look on her face and held out two packs of gum.

“I thought you could perhaps use these…” With a wink, she continued up the aisle. Joel and Lucas looked at each other and neither knew what to say. Joel wanted to simply disappear, but Lucas doubled over and started laughing.

“Apparently, we aren’t as sneaky as we thought.” He gasped for air in between fits of laughter. “The look on your face! God, Joel, you look completely priceless!”

“Well, I’m not a complete perve like you!” Joel started to laugh too, as he figured he couldn’t do anything about the situation now.

“Oh, really…? So you begging me to fuck you harder after you let me tie you up is…” It was clear Lucas was enjoying making him blush. And he succeeded.

“Shut up! Don’t talk about that here!”

After their little adventure, they kept getting slightly impertinent gifts from the attendant, who apparently thought their reactions hilarious. She handed them breath mints, bottled water, toothbrushes… Finally, even Lucas seemed to have had enough and he whispered something in her ear. She flushed bright red and stalked off in a hurry. Joel watched her leave and puzzled he leaned in towards Lucas.

“What did you say to her?”

“I thanked her for her considerate gifts and told her she must have sucked a lot of cock to know we might want to freshen up…”

Joel was stunned for a few seconds and then he burst out laughing.

The rest of the flight passed without much incident. As they came closer to touchdown, Joel got increasingly more nervous. He knew Lucas’ entire family would be there to greet them, including the older brother who he had yet to meet. If Lucas’ parents were any indication, the brother would be easy enough to get along with. Still, it was the man’s younger brother he was involved with. Protectiveness could do strange thing to a person.

Walking off the plane, Lucas grabbed his hand and more or less dragged him across the airport. Joel tried to stop and look at various things since it was his first meeting with the US, but with no luck. Lucas seemed hell-bent on breaking some sort of record traversing the vast building. Seeing a Starbucks had him digging in his heels. Exasperated, Lucas turned towards him.

“Come on! We can have coffee just as soon as we’re out of here.” He pulled on his arm, but Joel shook his head.  Lucas changed his tactic and tried to reason instead. “I know your Swedish soul loves coffee, but you can have it soon. As much as you want! I promise!”

“No, I want it now. We’ll have to wait for our bags anyway, don’t we?” Grudgingly, Lucas had to concede to this. “Ok, then. What’s the rush? I’ve never been to the US. I’ve only ever seen Starbucks on TV. I want coffee. What they served on the plane was disgusting.” Joel thought he sounded a bit like a petulant child, but he really did want coffee. Anything to give him some kind of boost before meeting the family.

Closing his eyes for a second, Lucas seemed to take in Joel’s words and his body language changed in an instant, his shoulders dropping and his head tilting to the side.

“Of course, you should have coffee. I forget it’s all new to you. To me, this is nothing special, but I know it is for you. Even if it’s just Starbucks.” He went up on his toes and kissed Joel softly. “I’m sorry.”

Joel glanced around, but no one reacted at the two men kissing in the middle of the busy airport. Maybe this was really a different place? Maybe they could be just part of a crowd here? Maybe he would finally have decent coffee after the awful stuff on the plane?