The next morning, Ted has to go to work, and I stay in bed a little while longer, still relishing the night before. His hobbled walk as he leaves the room makes me grin.

When we got home, Cameron knew what was up and excused himself for the evening, leaving me to direct Ted to his bedroom.

“I want you in me,” he had said the second I pushed him against the closed door. “Please. I need you in me.”

And so, I had taken Ted for the first time, and it was glorious. The way his beautiful bubble butt wiggled as I bounced against it from behind. The sweat that trickled down his spine that I greedily lapped up. The way he pleaded for it to be harder and faster. The way his eyes locked with mine when he came, I swear he was sewing up the final loose threads of our connection right then and there. As I came into the condom deep inside his body, I knew there would be no breaking us apart ever again.

I run home to grab supplies – file folders, staplers, multiple highlighters in a variety of colors, paper clips and binder clips – basically heaven. By the afternoon, I have everything sorted and accounted for, and detailed color-coded lists for Cameron and Ted.

“Wow,” Cameron says, bringing over a cup of coffee for himself and a cup of tea for me. I’m sitting at the coffee table, arranging the files and going through Cameron’s list with him. Ted’s still at Game Over for a few more hours. “I’m impressed you got through all of this so quickly.”

My back pops when I sit back, after having been hunched over stacks for so many hours today.

“It’s nothing. I’m sure Ted would have been further along if he didn’t also have a store to run. I’m lucky enough to have nothing else competing for my time.”

Cameron doesn’t miss the sarcasm dripping from the word lucky.

“You haven’t heard back from your office?”

“No, I did. They told me to take the rest of the week off, and then I start back to work on Monday.”

“You don’t sound too excited.”

“I’m not sure what to think,” I say between sips of tea. Maybe the mint will soothe the nerves that bubble up at the reminder. “Now everyone knows what happened. It’s going to be weird working through that.”

“After seeing everything you accomplished today, they’d have been complete fools to let you go without a fight.”

I smile in thanks around my mug. “What is it you do? I don’t remember Ted saying.”

“I’m a lawyer. Nice firm, but I’m getting tired of the city. The cases and the people are exhausting.” He traces a fingertip around the edge of his mug. “By the way, I wanted to thank you. I’ve really monopolized a lot of Ted’s time, and it can’t be easy, especially when it’s all related to his ex. I know you’ll be happy for me to get out of the way, but I do really appreciate everything you both have done for me.”

“Dude, you have nothing to thank me for. I’m happy to help any way I can. Just like I know Ted is.”

He sets a hand on my knee. It’s the same hand that was holding his coffee mug and the warmth bleeds through to my jeans.

“If you could have only heard the way he talked about you in California,” he says with a fond smile. “And now that I’ve met you, it’s impossible for me to picture him with Dylan. It used to drive me crazy. I’d always imagine what this elusive Ted was like and what they were like together. I was even a bit jealous. But Dylan was so high maintenance. Beautiful and full of life, but describing him as a queen doesn’t even come close.” He chuckles and I squeeze his hand. “You’re almost his polar opposite. Mellow and unassuming. And perfect for Ted.”

He chuckles again, but it turns into a sob and I pull him close. “I miss him so much,” Cameron cries into my shoulder, and I hold him until we hear the garage door open and Ted’s clunky boots coming down the hall.

“Hey, everything okay in here?” Ted asks with a gentle voice after spotting Cameron’s red eyes.

“Yeah,” I respond. “But I was hoping we could talk?”

Cameron excuses himself, and Ted asks if I want a beer before taking Cameron’s spot on the couch.

“Look, Kieran, I know you think I try to take over. Last night probably didn’t help my case any, but–”

I stop him with a finger to his lips.

“I was wrong.”

His eyes flash with surprise, and I enjoy having caught him off guard for just a second before I continue.

“I have issues. My parents still act like I’m a kid. Being everyone’s ‘baby gay’ didn’t help matters any. But I was already so sensitive about my age that it conflated even the simplest of things that you did for me.”

“I don’t think a kid uses the word conflated. Just saying,” Ted interrupts and I give him a soft jab to the shoulder that he pretends actually hurt.

“Last night, when I really did need you to save me, and then working on all this paperwork for you today, really made me reevaluate everything. I do things for you too.”

Ted’s lips quirk, and I know what he’s thinking about.

“Oh, dear god, seriously? I’m trying to have a serious conversation.” I try to be stern, but I can’t help the laughter that busts out. Yeah, I totally did things for him last night. Heh.

“What I’m trying to say is, maybe it’s okay for me to need you, as long as you need me too.”

“You know what I think that’s called?” Ted asks, his face turned serious as it approaches mine, rubbing his beard against my cheek until I hiss at the sensation.

“No, what?” I ask, my voice suddenly hoarse.

“A relationship.”

* * *

Our schedules don’t mesh to be able to drive to Jonathan’s graduation together. Ted has to leave early to get Cameron to the airport. Instead, we meet outside the ballroom. Even in a crowd, I can spot Ted’s head poking out above the others and his deep belly laugh calls me to him like a beacon.

I tap on his shoulder, and everything around us falls away when he turns around. Ted is stunning in a three-piece grey suit with a dark blue dress shirt and no tie. His top button is undone, highlighting his throat and his scruff, making me forget any remaining tension from the past two weeks.

“Wow.”

He beams like it’s the most amazing compliment he’s ever been paid, and I make a mental note to try to make him beam like that all the time.

“You made it,” he says, taking my hand and pulling me toward a small circle of people. “Did you have trouble finding parking?”

“No, I–” I pause and look down at our hands. “Are you sure you’re okay with this?”

“Holding hands? Of course.” He gives a funny shake of his head, like I’m crazy for even thinking it.

“Well, you wouldn’t hold my hand in California,” I mutter, thinking I was quiet enough and the room loud enough to mask my words, but Ted screeches to a halt. A few seconds pass, where I wait for him to turn to me, but he shakes himself out of it and we join his family.

“Gavin, Tina, I’d like for you to meet Kieran,” Ted says to the older and shorter version of himself and the woman next to him. There’s an additional version of Jonathan here too, his younger brother, and two girls I’m guessing are middle school and early high school aged.

As I shake their hands, I see Jonathan, already in his cap and gown, signing the word boyfriend to them.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I say and sign, giving Jonathan a side-eye though he tries to look innocent.

Ted signs something to the group, something I don’t catch because he goes too fast, but it makes Jonathan laugh out loud and give me a look that makes me think I’m in trouble. Ted wraps a meaty paw around my bicep and guides me through the crowd. Startled, I look back at the group, but Jonathan smiles and waves.

“What’s going on? Why are you being so, oh!”

Ted has found a quiet corridor around the corner from the farthest ballroom, and I’m suddenly pinned to the wall between the stairwell and an old water fountain.

“Did you think I was ashamed of you in California because I was more reserved about being near you?”

Well, cut right to it, why don’t you? I’m trying to come up with a way to answer yes without looking like a total idiot, but Ted continues on without me.

“I was so happy you were there. So fucking amazed that I could stand tall and tell people you were there with me. But I also felt so guilty because Cameron had already told me he was jealous of my relationship with Dylan when we were younger, so I didn’t want to flaunt how freaking happy I am in his face when he’s just lost his love of ten years. It felt like rubbing salt in a wound, and I was trying to be conscientious of that. But if you thought for one second that I was acting that way because of you, then I obviously haven’t shown you what you mean to me.”

My breath is coming out in such short bursts that I’m starting to feel a little light-headed.

“And what is that?” I manage somehow to say, despite the pressure in my slacks and the tightness in my chest.

“I am fucking head over heels in love with you, Kieran Jones, and I want the world to know it. I’m sorry I’ve done a shit job of expressing myself. I guess I was still in ‘try not to pressure’ mode when I should have been going full throttle.”

“I’ve got your full throttle.” Inappropriate, I know, after the man confesses his love to me. But I’m in such shock that the joke is the only complete thought my brain can actually form. Possibly because I really do have the most massive hard-on in my pants.

Ted thrusts his knee farther between my legs and growls. “I know you do.”

Ted looks around and we both notice the broom closet on the other side of the water fountain at the same time. I don’t care if it’s tacky or tasteless. I’ve been without this man physically for too long. We make a mad scramble into the closet and close the door quickly behind us. There’s metal shelves behind me, digging underneath my shoulder blades, but when Ted attacks my mouth with his, anything that isn’t Ted is erased from my mind.

He cups my erection with his palm, and I whimper.

“Don’t want to get them wet,” I whine, because no matter how good this feels, I’m going to have to go out and spend the next few hours with his family and I do not want a cum stain on the front of my pants.

Either Ted understands what my half-sentences are getting at, or he’s in just as much of a hurry as I am, because he unzips my pants and drops to his knees.

“Oh god,” I moan at the first touch of wet relief washing over the tip of my cock. “So good.”

His first movements swirl around the head and tease the thick protruding vein about halfway down my length, but as his mouth gets wetter, he takes more of me in with each pass, until my entire dick is encased in the suction of his mouth and throat.

And then he swallows. And I have to bite down on my fist to keep from shouting out at the pressure, so intense that I’m sure the throbbing in my veins are echoed in his tongue. With slow, strong suction, he pulls off of me, the strength of his sucking fighting him for every centimeter. When he finally reaches the end, he pulls back and scrapes his teeth lightly around my head. It’s such a strange combination of sensations, I almost blow my load right then.

His chuckle echoes in the dark room, and although I can’t see it, I can imagine his devious smile as he repeats the sequence, one, two, three times, until I tap on his head with a warning.

“Coming,” I cry, seconds before emptying my balls down his throat. He groans with pleasure, his swallows sounding in the quiet of the closet, followed by wet laps at my softening dick to clean me up.

“Your turn,” I say, bending down to find his cock already out, already leaking with precum, and ready for my willing mouth. It only takes a few strokes for Ted to lose it, and I smack my lips after swallowing every drop.

He’s still panting from his orgasm, but apparently his nerves or conscience or something has recovered enough to kick in.

“Sorry. This wasn’t … I shouldn’t have … You deserve better than a broom closet.”

I laugh as I straighten myself up, at least I think I do. I won’t really know until we’re out of the closet and can see what kind of a mess we’ve made of ourselves. “Ah, but nothing quite so flattering as knowing I make you so crazy you have to take me in a broom closet.”

Ted sighs.

“I love you too, you know.”

I wish I could see the look on his face when I say it, but the kiss I get in response is enough. We share each other’s taste for a few more minutes before Ted’s phone beeps with an incoming text.

“We’d better get back,” he finally says, reluctantly pulling away.

With the door open, we make last-minute adjustments to shirts and hair, although nothing will hide my beard burn, before heading into the ballroom for Jonathan’s graduation.

“I don’t want to know” is all Gavin says, when we take our seats on his other side. Craig and Zach are close behind after I text them to let them know where we are. I wave at them and they push through the aisle to sit with the whole group here to cheer on Jonathan, which also includes one of Jonathan’s work friends from the Forest Service. Craig raises an eyebrow at my red cheeks, but wisely says nothing.

After graduation, Jonathan’s family invites the whole crew out to dinner to celebrate, which means even more time in the inquisitor’s chair. Yay me.

I expect the usual questions about family, hometown, and job. Tina even asks me when I learned to sign.

“I knew a little. But after spending so much time at Game Over, meeting Jonathan, and getting to know Ted, it seemed like the thing to do. Ted’s family is important to him. Plus, I was afraid they were talking about me behind my back,” I say with a wink at Ted, who grabs my hand and holds it on top of the table for everyone to see throughout dinner.

Gavin and Tina look ready to turn in after dinner, but Jonathan bounces out to the parking lot.

“I want to go out,” he signs.

There’s some back and forth about what and where and is Brandon old enough for any of it because the girls certainly aren’t and Ted complaining that he is too old for all of it. But in typical Jonathan fashion, he puts a stop to all arguments.

“No, no, no. I don’t want to go to a club. I want to go to Rocky Mountain Fun Factory. It’s my graduation and I want to have fun.”

“What’s that? Can I go?” Brandon asks.

“Yes,” Jonathan answers. “Everyone can go. It’s putt-putt and go-karts and an arcade,” he tells his parents, who immediately relax and agree to let his siblings tag along.

Ted still looks skeptical, and I say, “Really? I thought you’d love an arcade.”

“I have to deal with kids playing video games at work all the time, but there they’ll be hopped up on sugar and who knows what else. Yeah, not my idea of a good time.”

I roll my eyes. “Please. Are you going to yell at them to get off your lawn while you’re at it?” Ted glowers but I continue, running a hand up under his suit jacket and through the buttons of his vest and shirt. I barely get a finger on warm skin and soft fuzz, but it’s enough. “They have air hockey. We can make a deal. Loser has to do winner’s bidding.” I lower my voice, my breath hitting the open vee of his shirt and causing a chill to shudder through him. “Anything at all.”

“I like that plan,” he says. After several false starts his voice is still higher than normal. My chuckle spreads goosebumps across his skin.

“I thought I could get you to come around to my way of thinking.”