* * *
Hal loved Pierce's little sister Sasha, especially after spending a week with her and her adorable family over Christmas.
But he really hated her tiny suburban house.
"What are you--"
He flailed. "Sh!" He glared at Sasha and her hazel-green eyes--so much like her brother's--widened. "He's talking," he mouthed, hoping she'd catch on.
"To who?" To her credit, she didn't raise her voice, but she did raise her eyebrows.
"Cynthia," Hal whispered.
And now Sasha's eyes got really big. "Because why?"
Hal grimaced. Pierce had told him that New Years Eve was his and Cynthia's thing, and in the interest of being amicable exes, he'd promised he'd call her this New Years, just to say hi.
Hal personally thought she was a big ol' moo, and he'd just as soon she kept her bitchy self away from Pierce because the guy had been pretty beaten down when Hal had found him and as far Hal could see, Cynthia was most of the reason.
But then Pierce was a much better grownup than Hal had ever been, so Hal was going to trust his judgment on this one.
Sort of.
"Mom! Where's Uncle Pierce!"
It was fun to watch Sasha flail this time as she tried to keep her oldest, Darius, from running into the bedroom where Pierce was talking quietly.
"Ooolf! Hello, big man!" Pierce said, surprised. He still wasn't recovered 100% from his car wreck, but Hal had forced him around the block a couple of times a day and he peeked into the room and made sure that Pierce was still standing. "Where's your mom?"
"She and Uncle Hal are standing outside the doorway making faces at each other, but you're leaving tomorrow and you promised to play Monopoly until it's New Years or until I fell asleep--remember? One or the other. You promised."
"Sure. I'll be out in a minute. Tell Uncle Hal that I'm fine and he can stop eavesdropping now."
Hal scowled at Sasha, who chuckled back. "Small house," she said cheerfully. "Thin walls."
"Whatever," he mumbled, embarrassed. "I wasn't eavesdropping!" he called, before entering the room. Pierce was sitting on the bed, one arm around Darius, and closing up the conversation.
"Yeah, Cynthia--sorry--I gotta go. Apparently the world will end if I don't play Monopoly." His usual dry humor suddenly disappeared and the expression on his angular, arresting features became sober. "You're welcome, honey. I hope this year is better for both of us. Yeah. You too. Night."
"So can we go?" Darius demanded, and Pierce ruffled his hair.
"You go first and set up the game. I need to talk to Hal for a second, okay?"
"God, grownups suck," Darius grumbled--but he got up and headed for the door. He rounded the corner and shouted, "Abi! You've got to set up the game or Uncle Pierce won't play!", leaving Hal and Pierce snickering in the aftermath.
Hal met Pierce's eyes and Pierce held out his arm.
God, he was warm. Hal snuggled into him, wrapping his arms around Pierce's waist and leaning his head on a sharp shoulder.
"You've got nothing to be worried about," Pierce said mildly. "She just wanted to touch base. You know--seven years is a long time to leave somebody cold."
"She could have made you feel like shit," Hal grumbled.
"Well, I could have too--"
"No you couldn't. You're too decent."
Pierce chuckled mirthlessly. "You know that's not true."
"Whatever. I don't care. What does 'You too' mean?"
Pierce stiffened. "Wow, you really were listening!"
"Seriously-- what was that a response to?"
Pierce sighed and tightened his arm. "She said 'I love you, Pierce. Take care,' and I said, 'You too.'"
Hal breathed in and breathed out. It had been a risk, taking Pierce up on his offer of love, his "Come with me. I love you. Let's be together." Even after a really nice week visiting with Pierce's sister, it was still hard to believe Pierce was all his.
"Do you?" he asked, hating himself. "Still love her?"
Pierce breathed in and out, weighing the question. "I'm trying to, but only as a friend. I swear."
Gah! "So, you know how tomorrow we were going to drive balls out and get to my parents', right?"
"Yeah?"
"Well, how about we drive balls out to Atlanta, which has a great theater scene and restaurants and some really cool historical sites, and spend three days there having all the sex in the world, and then drive to my parents in Charlotte?"
Pierce's low chuckle told him he wasn't fooled in the least. "You're stalling," he sang.
"Se-ex!" Hal sang back insistently.
"Well, since we've been here a week and have remained chaste as a nun's dreams--"
"That you know of."
"That I know of. Sure. I think we need to have some--"
Hal captured his mouth in a hard, forget-me-not kind of kiss.
Because Pierce got him. And would let him put off talking to his parents. And wouldn't lie to him about being in love with his ex.
And still wanted all the sex in the world.
Hal had to break the kiss off because Pierce was clinging to him raggedly, breathing hard. "Okay. So. Atlanta. Has a great theater scene," he panted.
"Smashing," Hal agreed, although he'd only heard this and hadn't seen anything himself.
"We'll never see it."
"Never," Hal said, taking his lean mouth again.
Pierce groaned throatily and pulled back. "Monopoly," he begged, and Hal conceded, only because it had been a week and if they didn't get up and go play Monopoly now they might break their, "Oh my God it's Pierce's sister's house and she has kids and what kind of monsters are we?" abstinence.
But Hal still heard the promise. Pierce had just broken up with a wife who'd made him hate himself for seven years, and could still say sincerely, "Love you back, take care." Hal was going to be the spouse who made him feel wonderful about himself for the rest of his life. Hal could live with a return on that investment. In fact, he planned to.
* * *
The trip to Atlanta took more than ten hours, because fuck Atlanta and fuck traffic and fuck snakes in Georgia, that's why. By the time they made it into the hotel room-- the really super nice hotel room that Pierce had booked for them New Years morning, because he apparently hadn't figured out that he had the job yet and was still trying to impress Hal when Hal was doing the exact same thing--Pierce could barely move.
They'd stopped for food after the unfortunate snake incident, so as soon as Hal could get Pierce prone, he stripped off his clothes, grabbed some towels, and started to work on the muscles that had frozen in transit. After an hour of hard labor--because being a masseuse wasn't for the weak of heart or of hand--the tight lines of agony had released Pierce's jaw, and a couple of ibuprofen helped with some off the residual pain. But they were exhausted by then, and the most Hal could manage was some television while Pierce mumbled about snakes and cowboys as he wandered to sleep.
The next morning, Hal woke up from a sound slumber to hear Pierce in the shower, singing. He fell back asleep, and when he woke up again, there was a flat of coffees and a bag of pastries next to the bed, and Pierce was feathering a kiss along Hal's temple.
"Look who's all bright and shiny," Hal mumbled. "Last night you could barely move."
"Yeah, but I know a guy with really awesome hands," Pierce purred, his breath tracing a path down Hal's jaw, down his neck, down his shoulder.
"I do have awesome hands, don't I," Hal concede. He rolled to his back and kicked off the covers, inviting Pierce to kiss anywhere else he wanted.
What he wanted was to pull Hal's nipple into his mouth and suck.
"Nungh!" Hal's fingers tangled in Pierce's overlong, red-brown hair, and his body threatened to come off the bed. "Gah!"
Pierce hmmd around his nipple and teased slightly with his teeth, and Hal's entire body sang.
Oh God.
He'd finally found a man whose touch made him feel like a real person, a whole man who could give and receive pleasure without pain or uncertainty, and they'd spent the last week cuddling.
His penis woke up and declared cuddling illegal and demanded all things carnal right now.
"Pierce!" Hal gasped, arching his hips up, and Pierce let go of his nipple and kept kissing down.
"Are we impatient?" he asked, toying with the waistband to Hal's pricey satin boxers.
"If you suck my dick now, you can have my soul for all of eternity," Hal told him in complete earnestness.
Pierce chuckled and nudged at his hips. "Scoot over, soulless minion. I'll take you up on that offer, but I need room on the bed."
Hal did, and before Pierce could entertain any notions about teasing or trying to prolong the sex, Hal stripped off his boxers, because there was no reason to prolong something they were going to have nonstop for three days.
"You take all the mystery out of things," Pierce accused, settling his stiff body carefully so he could support his weight on his good shoulder and hold Hal in his other hand.
"Fuck mystery," Hal breathed. "Fuck mystery, fuck seduction. Just blow me now and next time I can, you know..."
"Fuck me..." Pierce whispered, his breath skating over Hal's damp cockhead and amping the whole thing up some more.
"I'll stretch you out so sweet," Hal promised, eyes closing dreamily. It took some work, because Pierce was still in recovery, but the results... God. He'd never had a lover so boneless, so accepting, so welcoming to his own.
All preparation was worth it. Just thinking about it made Hal harder, and oh God, Pierce's fingers were squeezing him just so, and his breath was hot and his tongue...
Hal gasped, shoulders coming off the mattress as Pierce plied his perfectly functioning tongue over his tip, his base, his frenulum, his slit... Oh God. Oh hell. Hal pressed the soles of his feet against the nice sheets and fought coming off the mattress entirely.
"Pierce..." he breathed. "Please. Oh God. Please..."
Pierce engulfed him, taking him all the way into the back of his throat and he cried out, and then again as Pierce squeezed his base and pulled his head up, letting Hal slide out until just his lips engulfed the bell.
And again, and again, and again and that's all it took before Hal screamed and came completely apart, tugging hard at Pierce's hair as he convulsed in orgasm.
Pierce pulled off of him, slurping gently, and rested his head against Hal's thigh. He gave Hal a dreamy smile and held out his hand to lace fingers together.
"You look really pleased with yourself old man," Hal panted. God, he loved Pierce when he was confident. He loved him falling apart and loved him when he was a crotchety old curmudgeon, too, but he was just so beautiful when he smiled like that, like he knew how to love and be loved in return.
"I just made my young lover come," Pierce said simply. "I'm a little proud."
"You should be. You should watch me gloat when we do what I've got planned tonight. It's gonna be major."
Pierce chuckled. "The sex or the gloating?"
"Both."
"Fantastic. I've often said I was missing the erotic possibilities of a good gloat."
Hal giggled, because he was naked and replete, and he'd just had an orgasm before coffee.
"Well stay tuned for a romantic experience," he intoned, pushing up against the headboard and dislodging Pierce enough to make him sit up. "Now are you going to help me with breakfast?"
"Sure," Pierce said. "But I'm going to drag a chair over here because--"
"Wait, no, I'll get it!"
Oh God. Hal forgot sometimes. All the time. Pushing through to Atlanta the day before had been his awesome sucktastic idea. He couldn't forgive himself for the pain that had etched itself along Pierce's mouth. He vaulted over the bed naked and grabbed the desk chair, shoving it around so Pierce could sit next to him with breakfast on the end table.
"Hal--" Pierce sighed--then laughed, probably because Hal's junk was flapping as he flailed about the room. "Okay, fine. Thank you." With a sigh he pushed up from the bed using his cane and eased himself gingerly down onto the chair. "You know, there's some drawbacks to this road trip I hadn't anticipated."
Hal was busy pulling on his pajamas so he could scramble back into the bed and eat his breakfast. "Yeah. I really do think three days here is going to be necessary. You'll need to be as loose as possible before we go visit my parents."
Pierce nodded. "Should I make reservations--"
"Yes," Hal said without hesitating. "Trust me, Pierce. I'd love to let you stay there--they've got a spa with a jacuzzi and a big pool. All the shit I'd like to let you spoil yourself with. But no. My parents will make you long for a bed of nails and a big granite slab before you spend the night there. Trust me."
Pierce grimaced, in that way that said, "I do trust you but you're young and we can't both have lost in the parent lottery, right?"
And Hal might have bridled at that once, but Pierce was already pulling out his phone and setting up reservations for Charlotte and Hal had to concede. Pierce did trust him.
Hal reached out as he was surfing his travel app, and cupped Pierce's cheek.
"What?" Pierce looked up and caught his hand.
"We can skip my parents," he said softly. "We can skip my parents and go to New York and see plays there and shave three days off our trip so we can get you home."
Pierce smiled slightly. "I'm not ready to go home. It's travel season. We're on a honeymoon."
Hal grinned. "Yeah you are. Someday, there might even be a wedding."
"There'll be a season for that too. Now eat. Eat, and we can go exploring, and come back and use the pool."
"And the more sex?"
"Like I said--it's sex season."
Hal chuckled as dirty as he could. "My favorite time of year."
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