As he stripped down for the massage, Greg felt a little odd. It was one thing to go for a massage when you felt a little stressed. But to be prescribed one? And for not talking up about personal issues in the middle of a group of strangers? Greg was having a hard time talking about these things in private, to his own therapist or husband.

On the other hand, a massage was not the worst thing to be prescribed. He watched as Edward nervously stripped. He could tell Edward was still uncomfortable with his body. Possibly even more so, being in a beach environment, surrounded by other semi naked bodies. Greg didn't see where the insecurity came from. Edward was stunning in his eyes.

He spied Edward taking his phone out, looking at the time, and then hesitating. Something looked wrong. Like Edward wanted to do something else with the phone, but he was nervous. Greg knew that the resort discouraged using the internet too much, but it wasn't expressly forbidden. So what was bothering Edward? Their eyes locked and Edward, blushing a little and smiling nervously, put his phone back down before sitting down on the massage table.

As they waited for the masseur to arrive, Greg walked up behind Edward and kissed his neck. Edward shivered but stood still, leaning his head a little to expose his neck more to Greg. Greg continued planting kisses and light bites up and down Edward's neck and shoulders, feeling his husband relax, his hunched stance stretch out, and his body shivering.

“You are beautiful,” he whispered.

Edward seized up again instantly.

“You are,” Greg insisted. Why could he not accept this? “You really are.”

Edward shook his head, but before he could say anything the masseur was in and they both fell silent. Greg knew that this whole thing involved opening up around other people and to other people. He had seen as much this morning. But as he lay down on the bed, he couldn't bring himself to talk about the thoughts racing through his mind.

And the more he thought about them in silence, the more they raced. It was completely out of control. Like someone had started buffering a video that had crashed the browser, but it kept on loading every few minutes so that only a word or two came through and he was unable to stop it. Thoughts filled his mind, bringing the least pleasant things to the surface. Edward's insecurities and lack of libido. His own stress at work and at home. How Edward was losing trust in him, even hired a private investigator to tail him. How little he saw his kids any more. Every bad thought he had began crowding in, cramming out the good ones until he could barely take it anymore.

As the massage ended, he realized he had barely felt any of it. His body was more relaxed and limber, but he could not remember the massage, and he felt no better for it.

“How was that for you?” Edward asked. “My masseur was a little bit rough, but I think it finally worked out that tension in my back from ages ago.”

Greg shrugged. “I'll be honest... I was a bit too busy thinking about... stuff, to actually get into it.” He shrugged again to punctuate the sentence. “Maybe I just need more time here.”

Edward pursed his lips. “If this isn't relaxing you, we could always cut the trip short.”

Greg shook his head. “No, not at all. I am sure it will work and help. I just need to try and spend some more time... disconnecting my mind. I mean, I rarely if ever stop working, let alone stop thinking about work. Maybe that is something I need to learn to do.”

Edward looked unconvinced, but he said nothing for a moment. “Well, let's go and see what that art class is all about. It starts in ten minutes.”

Greg wanted to keep on talking about this. It actually felt good to open up a bit. But Edward's tone and choice to ignore the subject was all he needed to know that it was not something Edward wanted to talk about. Edward expected him to just calm down and relax. It was hard to relax and enjoy things when so much was on his mind, though. Perhaps this was what he needed? To actually talk about these things? And not necessarily with Edward. Suddenly, the True Love Resort setup made a little more sense.

The art class was exactly what he needed. Greg sat down next to Edward and they both began trying to do a serious drawing. By the end of it they were goofing around, creating strange chimera creatures out of any random animal they could think of.

“Feeling a bit more relaxed now?” Edward asked hopefully, peeling the PVA glue from between Greg's fingers.

Greg nodded. “I haven't done something this unplanned and messy since... Well, since that time in China... When you got that mud treatment.”

Edward blushed bright red. “Yeah, that was awful.” He nodded in agreement and continued peeling glue off Greg.

“You remember how green your skin was? I mean, what was in that stuff? You looked like some sort of an alien in every holiday photo after that. It didn't even really come off when we got home. I had to think of some really weird stuff to distract myself from it during sex.”

Edward laughed. “Really?”

Greg nodded and brushed a few pieces of paper cuttings off the front of Edward's top. “Yeah, all sorts of scenarios that involved me sleeping with a green alien.”

Edward looked up into Greg's eyes. And for some reason the smile faded from his face a little. “If this isn't for you then...”

Greg shook his head. “No, I'm getting into it.”

“You just seem a little... out there,” Edward said quietly.

Greg took Edward's hand and squeezed it. “I'm working through some stuff. But it's helping. You're helping. Honest.” He didn't know what more to say. He really was working through some of his own stresses and tensions. But these things took time.

***

“Aren't you enjoying this?” Edward asked shyly as they cuddled up in bed together.

“Not massively,” Greg admitted. “But I don't really think I can enjoy anything like this until I manage to stop thinking about all the things that are stressing me out. And it's not like there's a switch I can just flip and turn off all my negative thoughts.”

“What if they don't stop?” Edward whispered.

“Then... I'll have to learn to deal with them, I guess,” Greg replied, pulling Edward into a close hug. “But I'm trying. We'll work something out.”

Even as Edward fell asleep, his words lingered with Greg. He was trying his very hardest to work through his issues. To get to a place where his stresses and fears were not hurting his marriage. But what if he couldn't? What if it didn't get any easier than this? He had never considered it, but there was a real possibility that he would just have to keep on going like that forever.

***

But it did get easier. Waking up the next morning he definitely felt a difference just from letting go a little bit the day before and having a nice, long, sleepy cuddle with Edward until breakfast. Something had clicked and he knew he needed to do his very best to relax and let go.

In therapy, Greg actually felt a little more courage and opened up more.

“I don't know why it is,” he explained, “but I just keep thinking back to work. Are they mad at me? Do they need me? The hardest thing since coming here has been not opening my work emails.”

“And why do you think that is?” the therapist asked.

Greg shrugged. “I don't know.”

“How does it make you feel?”

“A bit boring, I suppose. Like there's not much more to me than work. Like if I don't keep working, I guess I'm not me anymore.”

“And how do you think that makes Edward feel?”

Greg felt a tightness in his chest as he glanced toward where Edward was sitting. How did it feel to be married to someone obsessed with his work, who was never there, who defined his entire identity by a promotion he hadn't even gotten? How did it feel to sleep alone night after night, until you hire a private investigator because you feel so empty and lonely you're convinced that your husband must be sleeping in someone else's bed? How must it feel to think yourself completely and utterly undesirable and unwanted? “Pretty bad,” was all he could manage.

When it was Edward's turn to speak, he was still fairly quiet, like the day before. There had been no breakthrough, no revelation for him. Greg wondered if there ever would be. He had spent all this time just expecting for Edward to have a breakthrough and fix himself... but what if Edward had never needed fixing? What if Edward's response was the natural one to the way Greg was treating him?

Next came aqua aerobics, and another massage. Throughout, Greg couldn't help but wonder how many of Edward's problems were his doing. He had never thought that all the things he did to make a good life for his family could backfire. But perhaps they could. And perhaps they had.

“You seem happier,” Edward remarked as he lay down ready for the massage. Today they would be taught how to massage each other for maximum stress relief, and it was Edward's turn first.

“I don't know, I just feel a bit better.” Greg shrugged.

Edward smiled softly as the masseur showed Greg how to, apparently, “channel the negative energy out of his back.” Greg was not completely sold on this, but Edward's warm, oiled skin under his hands was definitely a sort of therapy in and of itself. He sighed and carried on gently stroking.

“How are you feeling?” Greg asked. He knew Edward wouldn't feel great. But he needed to know. To hear it from his own lips.

“I feel okay,” Edward replied.

“No, really. How are you really feeling?” Greg asked again.

“A bit ugly,” Edward said quietly. “A bit uncomfortable.”

“You're beautiful to me, not that you ever seem to believe me when I say it,” Greg said. He could hear the footsteps as the masseurs left the room. At a place like this, spontaneous and intimate conversations were probably not rare.

“It's not believable. I don't think anyone could like me, or think I was beautiful,” Edward replied with a sigh.

“But you are beautiful. You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen,” Greg insisted.

“I'm fat. When we started going out I was so slim and cute. And now look at me...” Edward sighed.

“Not so slim, still cute,” Greg replied. “I'd say that plenty of people like a guy with a little more, but you don't even have that. You just don't have a skinny, sculpted body anymore.”

“I just want things to be like they used to be,” Edward said quietly. “Me, you, everything.”

Greg grabbed Edward by the waist. “Is that what's getting to you?”

“And other things.”

“What other things?”

Edward sighed and shook his head. “Let's handle one at a time.” Edward turned around on the bench and sat up. The oil on his body glistened.

Greg found himself grinning. Edward was just too hot. Sure, he wasn't skinny any more. But he hadn't just put on fat. Greg could see, especially as the light bounced off the oil, how the muscles were growing under Edward's skin. The fuller, shapely figure seemed to be a natural fit for Edward's character: soft, cuddly, but with a tough interior and a lot of power behind it. He wasn't ruining himself. He was maturing into the man he was always meant to be. Besides, the extra cushioning in his butt looked amazing. “Stand up, I want to look at your ass,” Greg finally said.

Edward blushed, but complied, standing up and turning around. He really did look perfect. Greg grabbed him by the waist again, pulling their bodies against one another, the oil making their skin slide and slip so teasingly. Zero friction. The idea was very appealing. Edward reached up, running his fingers through Greg's hair before pulling him down into a gentle kiss.

Greg savored the taste of Edward's kiss, his tongue only barely leaving his mouth to caress Edward's lightly parted lips. He knew Edward was ready and excited. He also knew there was no way they would have enough time to properly prepare and enjoy this before their session ended and the masseurs returned. But there was something immensely hot about the time pressure. He broke the kiss and caressed Edward's cheek lightly with one hand. His other hand paused on Edward's shoulder and lightly pushed down.

Edward glanced down at Greg's erection, forming a tent in the fabric of the tracksuit he was still wearing after aqua aerobics, and licked his lips. He looked up again and locked eyes with Greg.

“Go on,” Greg said quietly.

“Push me down,” Edward replied. “Push me down and fuck my face.”

Greg paused but, seeing the earnestness in Edward's expression, pushed down on Edward's shoulder hard, driving his husband to his knees. Greg wasn't sure where this kinky side had come from. It had never been how Edward was. They had tried many different things, but this sort of rough treatment... it had never been one of them. But if that was what Edward wanted, then he would give it to him.

Edward seized the elastic of Greg's trousers and pulled them down with one swift motion, Greg's hard cock bobbing and waving in his face. He leaned in and licked the tip lightly. Greg shuddered from head to toe at the sudden spike of pleasure, letting out a groan. Not wanting to attract too much attention, he held his breath and gritted his teeth before looking down. Just as they made eye contact, Edward did it again.

Remembering what Edward had asked for, Greg put both his hands behind Edward's head. As his husband leaned in to teasingly lick him once again, Greg forced the younger man's mouth down onto his cock, plunging deep inside him. Edward gagged and choked a little, but even when Greg's grip relaxed, he didn't pull back. Instead, he looked up pleadingly.

Greg gripped Edward's hair tightly again and began sliding his cock slowly in and out of Edward's mouth, using him as a toy.