HUGO woke before Kevin and knew from his experience the last morning at the lake that Kevin would want, no need coffee first thing. He took a quick shower as the freshly ground coffee dripped through the filter, and by the time he was done, he heard Kevin stirring on the bed.
“Coffee, just like you like it,” Hugo said, bringing him a cup.
“Wow. What service.”
“I aim to please.”
“Thank you.” Kevin took deep breaths of the fragrant brew before he took his first tentative sip to test the temperature. “Mmm. It’s good.”
“So I’ve been told,” Hugo teased, but Kevin was still too groggy to play along. “What do you have planned today?”
“Nothing, really. I was just hoping to spend some time with you, if you could.”
“Yeah. I need to take a break from everything even if I can feel all my projects calling out to me from hidden boxes and files.” Hugo gestured toward the bookshelf in the living room he could see through his doorway, and Kevin’s gaze drifted over.
“That bad, huh?”
Hugo shrugged. “Sorta. How about renting bikes and heading out on the trails? It’s s’posed to be nice today. Not too hot and no rain in the forecast. What do you think?”
“Sure, but I don’t have anything to wear for a workout.”
“I’ve got something you can borrow.”
“Please let me finish my coffee first. And I probably need to eat breakfast if we’re going to be riding all day long.”
“Let’s head over to Isles Bun & Coffee and eat there. They have cinnamon rolls the size of Princess Leia’s buns and the best puppy dog tails. And cream cheese frosting. Not to mention, it’s just past the bike rental place.”
“Puppy dog tails?” Kevin pulled a funny face.
“Cinnamon twists some crazy preschoolers named, I guess. I won’t make you eat actual puppy tails. What do you take me as?” Hugo asked with a smirk.
“Okay. If there’s guaranteed coffee in my future, I only need three more sips and a shower.” Kevin took a few more swallows before seeming to decide to just bring the cup into the bathroom with him. Hugo found clothes that would be long enough since Kevin had a good four or five inches on him, filled a few water bottles, and stuck a couple snacks in a small backpack while he waited. A few more sips of coffee later, and they were walking toward the bike rental place to get bikes for both of them for half a day.
They sat outside Isles Bun & Coffee eating their cinnamon buns with the best cream cheese icing ever and drinking one more cup of coffee each. After their breakfast, they started following the Greenway Trail toward the Mississippi River and back, then rode around the Chain of Lakes. They stopped periodically to rest and talk, eating small bites of fresh fruit and granola bars as lunchtime neared. And they talked almost the entire time. It was comfortable and reminiscent of how easily conversation came to them as teens roaming around the Hormel Nature Center. It seemed nothing was off-limits, and Hugo realized how much he really liked who Kevin was. Such a strange thought, but it was true. Kevin was truly an amazing person even after his father had tried to break him. That reminded Hugo of Kevin’s mom who always seemed to be stuck in the middle of father and son, doing her best to please both, often forgetting herself in the process.
“Do you talk to your mom much?” Hugo asked as they rested on a bench near Lake Calhoun on their trip back to the rental shop later in the afternoon.
“Yeah. She moved to Moorhead after Dad died, so I even saw her the other weekend when I went to get the kids in Fargo. It’s pretty convenient having both sets of grandparents just across the river from each other. We get to visit all the grandparents with one trip. She’s dating, actually. That’s a new development.”
“Your mom is?”
“Yep. She met this guy at a grief support group. He lost his wife about the same time my dad died.”
“Is it serious?”
“I’m not sure she’ll ever remarry, but I think they enjoy each other’s company. She likes to say they’re just really good friends, but I can see she feels a lot more for him. He treats her really well. Mom likes her newfound freedom, but Joe still helps her with things around her house, like cleaning out the gutters and stuff. Which I’m thankful for.”
“I bet. I’ve helped my mom with a lot of stuff like that. She’s here in The Cities. Maple Grove. She’s still single, but Charisse, her husband Kip, and I help her with the house and yard when she lets us.”
They spent a few minutes watching people walk by with their kids in strollers and dogs on leashes. Hugo couldn’t help pointing out a few pooches here and there that he liked, which led to him sharing how much he’d love to have a dog someday. People everywhere were enjoying the beautiful day, just like Kevin and Hugo were. Joggers, Frisbee players, young people steering the paddle boats, and even an ambitious guy trying to get a kite to fly when there wasn’t nearly enough wind to sustain it aloft. Hugo couldn’t help but feel content in the moment, especially with Kevin sitting so close.
“I was going to ask you if you were still planning on coming over to my house next weekend,” Kevin said. “I don’t want the kids to get their hopes up if you’re not headed out.”
“I was planning on it. Would it be better if I didn’t?”
“No, that’s not what I meant. I just wanted to clarify.”
Kevin put his arm across the back of the bench and slid closer to Hugo. When he rested his hand on Hugo’s shoulder and pulled him even nearer, Hugo was surprised. He hadn’t expected Kevin to go ahead with any form of public display of affection. Kevin sneaked a kiss at the corner of Hugo’s mouth, but then pulled away when a family with school-aged kids walked by on the trail.
“Let’s go back to your place,” he whispered, and Hugo thought he heard desire in Kevin’s voice.
He nodded, climbed back on his bike, and pedaled quickly to the rental place. The few blocks back to Hugo’s apartment seemed to take forever on foot now that they were used to the speed of bicycles, but they made it in good time.
When they passed a woman on the sidewalk walking a dog, Hugo couldn’t help himself. He bent down to pet the cute pooch, asking about the breed and cataloging the name away; Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Kevin asked questions about the dog, finding out the dog was on the small size for her breed and that she was quite affectionate and good with kids, even when they weren’t so nice to her. Hugo pet the dog as they chatted away, loving the feel of her silky fur and deciding silently that this was the breed of dog he’d like to get someday.
“She’s beautiful,” Hugo said as he stood and looked at the woman. “Thanks for letting me pet her. Have a great day.”
“Oh sure thing. Any time. Dandelion loves attention. Bye-bye.”
“I never knew you were so dog crazy,” Kevin said as they continued walking. “You didn’t have any animals in high school.”
“I always wanted a dog, but with Dad being sick, my mom said it was just too hard.”
“They do demand a lot.”
“Yeah. Worth it though, from what I see.” Hugo sighed.
When they turned the corner next to Hugo’s building, Kevin stopped at his CUV, opened up the cargo space, and pulled out a bag. He had a self-conscious look on his face as he walked closer to Hugo.
“Clothes, just in case I ended up spending the night. That’s why I was still in work clothes last night. I spent my time packing rather than changing.”
“Don’t worry. It’s fine.”
“I didn’t know what you’d think. That’s why I left it in the car last night and just brought the food up. But now I can get out of your clothes.”
“I need a shower,” Hugo announced the second they walked in his apartment.
“I actually need to make a few calls. Do you mind? I’ll jump in after you.”
Hugo could hear Kevin talking to someone as he washed himself. It sounded like business, but he could only hear words clearly every so often—Kevin must have been pacing. Hugo started quietly singing to himself to avoid overhearing the conversation. By the time he was done showering, Kevin was off the phone and more than ready to shower as well.
While Kevin was washing up, one of those ubiquitous boxes holding Hugo’s work kept nagging at him. This time it was bills. He dreaded paying bills but logged on to his bank’s website and saw how much money was in his account, taking a few minutes to go through his check register to make sure he had everything entered, balancing it.
Kevin startled him. Hugo had been concentrating on looking through his credit card bill to verify the purchases.
“What are you doing?”
“Just trying to pay bills. I won’t have time tomorrow and the mailman comes early Monday morning. I don’t have my checks downstairs before he comes on a far-too-regular basis. I was just freaking out. I’ll already be late on a few bills because I should’ve sent them out yesterday. Anyway….”
“Wait,” Kevin paused as if he were trying to understand something confusing, “you’re still paying bills with actual paper checks?”
“Well, yeah.”
“You don’t pay bills online?”
“No. Don’t you have to have money taken out every Tuesday or on the first and the fifteenth every month? I don’t get a paycheck on a regular schedule, so that doesn’t really work for me.”
“You can set it up like that, but you can also do one-time payments. You don’t have to buy checks, and personally, I find it easier to pay online. It takes me about a third of the time. Probably less. If you’d like, I can help you set it up so you can see if it’s something you’d like to try.”
Hugo thought about it. “Sure.” He logged back into his bank’s site, and they spent the next fifteen minutes setting up accounts. Then Kevin showed Hugo how to use the site. Before he knew it, Hugo had paid his bills, and the payments would be where they needed to be before they were due without stamps needing to be hunted down.
“No more racing to my mailbox in the mornings praying I get there before the mailman. Fred’s going to wonder what happened to me. Thanks for that. I hate paying bills. Not that this’ll make me like parting with my money any more, but still.”
“I hate banking, so the simpler I can keep it, the better,” Kevin shared. “Erin did all of the day-to-day stuff before the separation. She knew what we had in our checking account down to the dime at any given time.”
“That’s weird.”
“What?”
“The business guy doesn’t take care of his own finances.” Hugo laughed.
“I know. Erin loved it. It was like she got some sick pleasure out of working with money. She tried to make the cash in our checking account stretch as far as she could each month. She could teach classes. She was smart with money. Still is. And coupons! The woman was coupon crazy. I guess my point in all of that was I had to learn all this stuff about online bill paying recently, and I’m now responsible for it again after years. It’s easy, though.”
“Looks like it. Thanks for helping. Did I scare you off when you saw all my balances?”
“What? No. Why would it?”
“I don’t know. I read somewhere that all your housing expenses shouldn’t be more than thirty percent of your take-home pay. I think I’m closer to fifty percent. I’m sacrificing to live in the heart of Uptown. I know I could live somewhere else cheaper, but then I’d miss out on everything that happens here, and there’s always something happening. I love this area. Being so close to everything, I barely drive, and my car has been paid off for a few years already. It only has twenty thousand miles on it or something like that.”
“Hugo, you don’t have to justify your financial choices to me. I’m not my dad. I’m not judging you. You work jobs you love and live where you want and spend your money however you choose.”
How had Kevin picked up on Hugo’s worries when he hadn’t even fully realized them himself yet?
“Listen to me,” Kevin said as he pulled Hugo in for a hug. He pressed his lips right to Hugo’s cheek and spoke in a low, soothing voice. “I know you’re nervous. I am too. Let’s not jump ahead of ourselves. I’m not asking you to marry me or to live together or combine our bank accounts. I’m not that sure of things. Yet. It’s still so new. But I can see it possibly happening. I can see us falling crazy head-over-heels for each other again, wanting to never be apart, and doing things to join our lives together. There’s no one to stand in our way this time. Not my dad, not our classmates, not a small-minded community that we knew could never accept us. There’s nothing in the way, not even my kids, because they adore you and can’t wait to spend more time with you. I don’t know exactly what I see for our future, Hugo, but I think I’m willing to take the risk and give us a real second chance.”
Kevin leaned back and Hugo knew Kevin saw the tears in his eyes. There was no way to keep them away. Kevin thumbed over Hugo’s cheekbone, and his face was so soft and full of love. Hugo was speechless, which was a rarity.
“But”—Kevin’s voice shifted to something more pragmatic—“it’s early, I realize, and I don’t want to jinx this. Let’s not worry about things that haven’t happened yet and just take things as they come. And even if all of that does happen, I would never judge you like my father did all those years ago. Never.”
Hugo took in an unsteady breath and leaned in for a kiss. There were no words, none he could speak that wouldn’t come out sounding either like gibberish or desperation, so he put his feelings into his hands and fought to get Kevin out of his clothes. He could show Kevin how much his words struck him.
Without breaking their kisses, which were venturing very close to frenzied, Hugo pulled Kevin to his feet and dragged him to his room. As Hugo sat and scooted back so he was in the center of the bed, he pulled his own shirt over his head and shoved his shorts and underwear down without bothering to unbutton. It might have been funny in another context, but not in that moment when both men were anxious to be touching skin.
Kevin kissed Hugo’s jaw and ear and throat, ending up sucking on his necklace. He licked and sucked on Hugo’s nipples in a way he had never done before, making Hugo wonder if he’d be able to keep his orgasm back the moment his cock was touched. And then Kevin kissed down the center of Hugo’s chest, past his stomach, taking a small detour to investigate his hipbones. Hugo was so on edge he could barely breathe, so when Kevin completely bypassed his cock, he was almost thankful.
Until Kevin started tonguing against Hugo’s groin and ass cheeks.
They weren’t the inexperienced movements of someone who hadn’t a clue what he was doing, but the enthusiastic movements of someone who was fully invested in that moment and wasn’t giving a thought beyond how to please his partner. And Kevin was bringing Hugo back to the edge faster than he would’ve imagined possible. He licked Hugo’s balls, enveloping them in his mouth and sucking on each before letting them go to move farther down, to lick, to press, to massage on the entire journey to Hugo’s entrance.
Kevin licked, and Hugo slammed his eyes shut. Kevin sucked and kissed at Hugo’s pucker as if he’d been waiting years for this opportunity, pouring everything right there into just a square inch of skin.
Hugo’s legs dropped open, and he curled his spine, pulling his knees close to his chest as Kevin’s warm tongue slipped past tight muscle, which easily became loose and open.
“Fuck, Kevin. Fuck.”
Kevin’s head popped up and he smirked. Fucking smirked. “Good?”
Hugo growled, planted his feet on Kevin’s strong shoulders and started moving his hips so he was fucking himself on Kevin’s tongue. Kevin pulled on Hugo’s hips, encouraging him to do exactly what he wanted, to take everything he needed.
Absently, Hugo stroked his own cock, holding it loosely, moving his hand in lazy motions but concentrating on the sensations of Kevin’s tongue. He felt opened up. He felt free. Somehow he felt as if he could be anything with Kevin in that moment.
Hugo lifted an arm over his head and he whimpered into his bicep at the sensation that started to spread throughout his body. He knew his voice was higher than Kevin was used to hearing, but he didn’t care. Hugo was ready to let go. He was ready to show Kevin everything about himself, including the wasted, spent, totally-over-the-edge parts.
And then it stopped. Kevin pulled away just as Hugo was about to tip over the edge.
“Fuck” slipped out but was quickly silenced by the kiss on his mouth, Kevin’s tongue filling him in a different way, communicating how much he craved Hugo.
“Can I?” Kevin whispered between gasped breaths.
Hugo could only moan, not really knowing what was being asked.
“Can I fuck you?” Kevin finally got out.
“Yes,” Hugo moaned. Only once had this happened in high school, Kevin always reluctant, fearful he’d hurt Hugo. “God, Kevin, yes. Please.” He knew how he sounded, desperate, but blew it off as he dug in a drawer for a condom and lube. He opened the condom and rolled it over Kevin’s beautiful cock, loving how perfect he looked wrapped up. A few drops of lube on the tip, and he was ready.
Hugo lay back and let Kevin take over, let him be totally in control of this. Kevin moved Hugo’s legs with confidence, and his mouth seemed to water as he looked down at how ready Hugo’s body was for him. Hugo could feel how his ass ached for Kevin, twitching and spasming in anticipation.
Kevin dripped a little more lube on his fingers and started to rub around Hugo’s hole, trying to make sure he was ready so he wouldn’t be hurt.
“Your cock. I’m ready. I’m really, really ready, Kevin.”
Kevin laughed at him, his eyes darting up, and the look of the devil was right there staring back down at Hugo as Kevin pressed inside.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You won’t. I’m ready.”
“But you said it’s been over a year for you.”
“God, please, Kevin. Don’t make me wait any longer.”
Kevin chuckled and snuck a quick kiss before finally giving Hugo what he wanted.
It was a steady, too-slow burn, but Hugo waited, giving Kevin the time he needed to feel confident. Kevin gave a few experimental thrusts, studying Hugo’s face for something, perhaps pain or pleasure. There was nothing but pleasure. And then Kevin pulled away slowly only once more before he slammed his hips against Hugo’s ass.
Hugo gripped what he could reach of Kevin’s ass and pulled him closer, loving the feel despite his breath being literally stolen from him. “Fuck. Fucking fuck me.”
Kevin laughed but kept up the intensity.
Hugo realized what he’d said and was able to gasp out, “Your cock… takes away… my fucking… intelligence,” and then Kevin stopped so Hugo could continue. “Or at least my impression of intelligence. So fuck me harder!”
That seemed to be all Kevin was waiting for because after his momentary chuckle, he rose up on his knees and thrust so hard Hugo had to brace his hands on the headboard so he wasn’t sent through the wall and into the next apartment.
How awkward would that have been?
Despite how intensely Kevin was fucking him, he touched Hugo’s skin with a tenderness that bespoke of past kisses—barely there touches and caresses whenever skin came close enough to taste. It was all-encompassing, and as Hugo walked the soles of his feet farther and farther up Kevin’s body, ending up with his toes near Kevin’s fricking ears and Kevin’s cock so far up his ass he thought he could feel it in his throat, they were still kissing as if it were their first time ever, or the last time they’d kissed in the woods before Kevin left for college.
Hugo came with a grunt which forced his teeth to bite into Kevin’s bottom lip before he stopped himself and sucked instead. He could feel the muscles in his ass and groin spasm, contracting in amazing waves of pleasure that seemed to pull Kevin’s control away from him. Kevin looked shattered, falling apart above Hugo in what could only be described as sobs. Hugo could feel Kevin’s cock pulse as he spent himself, energy draining away.
Long moments later, Kevin was still hard and buried inside Hugo, but collapsed on top of him, unwilling or unable to move. Hugo didn’t complain, didn’t try to move away at all, only shifting his legs so they rested on the bed again.
Slow kisses were pressed into the skin along Hugo’s neck and collarbone. For his part, Hugo skimmed his hands down Kevin’s sweaty back and held him closer.
“I love you,” Kevin whispered. Hugo was stunned and felt his muscles tighten slightly. “Maybe that’s too quick.”
“No.” Hugo stopped Kevin’s next word. He squeezed his eyes tightly shut and kissed Kevin’s full lips. “I love you, Kevin. I always have.”
“Me too. So much, and I never really told you. I always regretted that. Please don’t be afraid to tell me how you feel, okay?” Kevin asked. “Ever. If there’s one thing I learned from my failed marriage, it’s that keeping feelings hidden doesn’t help, and eventually it gets to be too little too late. Okay?” Hugo nodded, his eyes still closed as he took advantage of the proximity of Kevin’s mouth.
All too soon and with a pained groan, Kevin pulled out of Hugo and moved to toss the condom. It was upsetting to Hugo how empty he felt without Kevin inside him any longer. He curled toward the center of the bed and waited.
“Do you know how perfect this looks right now, except for one thing?” Kevin asked in the doorway, his beautiful naked body still flushed and fucked out.
“No. What?”
“Mmm. Something’s missing, and I think you know it.” Kevin crossed the room and climbed on top of Hugo’s bed, sliding close to Hugo and pulling him even closer.
“You?”
“Us. It was missing us.”
“Damn romantic.”