-“And game!” the announcer called over the loud speaker. The audience roared with cheers from some, and boo’s from others.

“Oh come on!” Chris groaned as the siren sounded. “That was pathetic!” Dane nodded and voiced his agreement. It was another Friday night and the boys had witnessed their basketball team have their asses handed to them. “Let’s get the fuck out of here”, the blond said, taking his boyfriend’s hand and leading him towards the exit.

It had been three months since Chris and Dane’s first night together, and the boys had been practically inseparable since. Chris continued to visit the gym regularly, where the insatiable lovers happily worked out together for hours at a time. They also had sex whenever and wherever they could. In fact, it had become a little game the pair would play; finding the most unusual places to fuck. So far, the strangest place had been on a Ferris wheel! The chance of being discovered made it all the more exciting. Needless to say, the boys got up to their mischief at times, always having the most fun around each other.

The cool night air hit the boys as they walked on the street, towards Dane’s car. Chris shivered; it was an unusually cold night. He rubbed his hands together in an attempt to warm them up. “Fuck, it’s pretty damn cold out here, huh?” he commented.

Dane stopped and took Chris’ hands in his. “Here, I’ll help you warm up a bit”, he said softly, moving his boyfriend’s hands towards his mouth. He rubbed Chris’ hands in his and breathed hot air on them, looking the boy in the eyes as he did so. He then kissed Chris’ hands affectionately several times. Chris’ heart melted at his boyfriend’s loving ministrations.

He had come to realise that he was deeply in love with Dane a couple weeks ago, but hadn’t gathered the courage to tell him. Chris suspected that perhaps his clever boyfriend already knew, as he was told it was fairly obvious. Justin had been the one to point it out to him those weeks ago, saying simply, “You’re in love.” When the boy asked how his friend could tell, Justin responded, “I can see it on your face. Your eyes light up when you talk about him in a way that is unmistakable.” This realisation scared Chris a little at first, but all that went away that night when he saw his boyfriend again. All feelings of fear were replaced with feelings of complete love and an overwhelming sense of safety. That was what Chris felt with Dane; safe. He was everything to him; his lover, his best friend, his life. It was only nerve racking as Chris had never said that before to anyone. The only other boy he had loved had been Justin, and he could never tell him properly as he was still coming to terms with his sexuality, and Justin’s heart already belonged to someone else. So, Chris had never felt love for any other man, and had hence never confessed those three little big words to anyone. He had never wanted to. Until now.

“I love you”, Chris said softly as he stared into his beau’s eyes.

Dane’s face registered some surprise, but only for a brief moment, as the look was replaced with one of love and affection. The man kissed Chris’ hands again and responded, “I love you too.” He and Chris shared a smile before coming together for a tender kiss. After several seconds, the boys pulled away from the kiss. “Let’s get the fuck out of here”, Dane said, repeating Chris’ earlier words, making him laugh.

“That’s the best idea I’ve heard all day”, Chris said. Hand-in-hand, the couple walked all the way to Dane’s car and headed for his apartment. They then proceeded to make love over and over again, finally collapsing in the wee hours of Saturday morning. Almost asleep, Chris snuggled into Dane’s arms. “I love you, Dane”, he whispered.

Dane pulled Chris closer to him and said, “I love you, Chris.” With that, both boys fell into deep sleeps, not waking until late the next morning.

Chris was awakened with soft, wet kisses on his chest, neck, face and mouth. His eyes fluttered open to see Dane smiling above him. Chris returned the smile as he stretched out and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend. “This is my favourite way to wake up”, he sighed contentedly.

Running his fingers through Chris’ hair, Dane said, “I love waking up with you.” He moved his head down to kiss Chris’ lips again. The kiss quickly became more heated as Dane moved so that he was lying completely on top of his blond.

37 minutes and two rounds of love making later, the boys cuddled in their bed, covered in sweat and cum, but making no move to get themselves cleaned up. “Tell me something”, Dane said. He raised his head from Chris’ head to look into his eyes. “A secret. Something personal that you’ve never told anyone before.”

Chris smiled at his beau, happy to accommodate him. He felt comfortable enough with this man to tell him anything. He thought for a moment and realised exactly what he could tell him. Something he figured he would have told him at some point anyway. “When I was 17 I fucked around with this guy from my English class in secret. It was how I discovered I was gay”, he began. Dane stared at Chris, a genuine interest clearly displayed on his face. “We became good friends and fooled around. He taught me everything I know. No one knew about it. But I was still in denial about myself. All my life I’d always been told that being gay was sick and wrong, so I was scared as fuck to admit what I was. Even just to myself. After a while, though, I freaked out at the guy when I saw him with his actual boyfriend and he broke things off.”

“So what happened?” Dane asked with interest.

“I had time to think to myself”, Chris answered. “I slowly accepted who I was. And…I realised the reason I’d freaked out at my friend was that I’d fallen for him.”

Dane shifted from his spot on top of Chris, adjusting himself so that his face was right next to his boyfriend’s. “Did you ever tell him?” he asked.

Chris nodded. “At prom. One of my team-mates thought it would be a good idea to attack him and his boyfriend in the parking lot, but I stopped him before things got messy. I apologized for being a shit and told him I had feelings for him.”

“So, you got together?”

“No”, Chris replied, shaking his head slightly. “I still had a lot of shit to sort out, and he was already in love with his boyfriend, so it wasn’t right for us”, he revealed. “But it was all for the best. Cause I sorted myself out and eventually met you”, the boy added, hugging his boyfriend to him. “Plus, me and the guy are still friends.”

Dane was silent for a moment. “It’s Justin, isn’t it?” he asked softly.

The blond looked at his lover’s face. “Yeah”, he confirmed. “You’re not pissed off that I didn’t tell you, are you?” he asked.

Dane shook his head. “No”, he answered. “I knew he meant a lot to you when I met him and now I know why. I’m glad. Thanks for sharing that with me.” He moved forth and gave Chris a gentle kiss.

Chris was relieved at his lover’s response. “Now you tell me something personal”, he said in a light teasing voice. Although he was being light-hearted, Chris also genuinely wanted his boyfriend to be comfortable being open with him about anything.

The brunet chuckled and gave his man another kiss before settling back into his chest, wrapping his arms around him. Chris held him comfortably in his own arms. The room was silent for a few moments. Then Dane began to speak, “When my parents died I didn’t speak to anyone for an entire month. I couldn’t manage to say a word. It was the shock and grief, but I also felt sick just trying to say a single word. So I spent most of my time alone, shut away in my room. I couldn’t bear facing people who were going to have pity for me, so I skipped a lot of school. Instead of going, I’d just walk down to this park and sit. There was this old man that I saw there everyday, sitting on this bench. Sometimes, he’d feed the ducks in the pond, if there were any. Sometimes he’d just sit there doing nothing. I watched him every time I went, until one day; he came over to me and sat next to me on the bench I was on. We sat in silence for a while until he started telling me about life. He was saying all of these things that didn’t make much sense to a nine year old, and I had no idea why. I just knew that I liked hearing him speak. Then he began talking about grief, saying it can eat you up completely, but only if you let it. As it turns out, he’d lost his wife two years ago and somehow he could tell that I’d lost someone important too. He’d been me at the park just like I’d seen him, and somehow he knew. So he came over to me and told me all of these profound things, and suddenly I could speak again. Suddenly, I no longer felt sick just thinking about talking. I never saw that man again, but he really helped me. If it weren’t for him, it would have taken me much, much longer to begin to heal. I’m just glad that the last thing I was able to say to him was thank you. I never told anyone that.”

Chris blinked back tears, Dane’s story moving him. Dane had told him before that his parents had been killed in a car crash when he was nine, and that he and his brother had been raised by his grandparents. He hurt for his boyfriend, not wanting him to ever feel hurt or pain or loss. The blond pulled his man closer to him and kissed the top of his head. He wished he could protect him from everything. “Thank you”, he whispered.

The brunet looked up at Chris. “What for?” he asked.

“For being open with me”, Chris said. “For being the best fucking person I’ve ever known.”

Touched, Dane reached up to caress Chris’ face as they looked at each other’s faces. He moved to kiss Chris tenderly, resting his forehead on his lover’s once he’d pulled back. “I love you”, Dane whispered.

Stroking Dane’s back with his left hand, Chris responded, “I love you, too.”

8 months later

Chris entered Dane’s apartment using the key he’d been given. Once inside, he put hi bag down and rolled his shoulders, groaning. It had been a long day at college for him. All he wanted was a nice hot shower. Chris headed right over to the shower and hopped in once the water was warm enough. He spent several minutes just standing under the soothing spray. That’s better, he thought with pleasure. Finally satisfied, Chris got out of the shower and dried himself, walking into the bedroom naked.  “Woah!” he gasped, running right into his boyfriend.

The brunet laughed at Chris’ surprise and then looked him up and down, appreciating the sight in front of him. “Well, I certainly like coming home to this”, he said, stepping closer to his man and running his hands over his ass.

Chris closed his eyes let out an appreciative “mmm”, enjoying the feeling of Dane’s warm hands cupping his ass. Opening his eyes to look into his boyfriend’s gleaming ones, Chris said, “I didn’t know you’d be home just yet. But now that you are…” He wrapped his arms around Dane’s neck as he spoke and moved even closer to him, as he still held his butt.

Dane gave Chris a brief but sweet kiss and pulled back. “As much as I hate to refuse some lovin’ with my man, I must decline”, he told Chris, moving his hands from his ass up to his upper back, stroking it tenderly.

“How come?” Chris asked with disappointment, looking at Dane curiously.

Moving his hands up to take Chris’ in his and move them down to between their lower bodies. “Because you and I have other plans”, he divulged. Chris raised a brow at Dane in question. “Go and get dressed. We need to leave in under 15 minutes”, he said, letting go of Chris’ hands and pushing him towards the bedroom. Chris looked at Dane oddly, but did as he was told, none-the-less.

Half an hour later, Dane parked his car on a familiar street. They passed it often when driving to various places from Dane’s apartment. He turned off the car and sat back, a knowing look on his face, accompanied by a cheeky smile. Chris all the while looked at the man as if he’d grown two heads. Dane simply smiled back at him. “Alright, that’s enough weirdness”, Chris said, throwing his hands up. “What the fuck is going on?”

His smile still in place, Dane simply nodded over to Chris’ door. “Hop out”, he said. At this point, Chris was desperate to know what Dane was up to, so without question he got out of the car. Dane got out a second later and closed his car door shut. Chris did the same so that Dane could lock the car. The brunet walked around the car so that he was standing next to his boyfriend on the sidewalk. He looked across the street, up at an apartment building and took hold of Chris’ hand. Chris took this as a sign and followed his man’s gaze.

“And, why are we staring at a building?” he asked, still very much confused.

Dane rolled his eyes, yet still smiled and pulled Chris across the street towards the building. He opened the front door with a key that Chris was surprised he had. Once inside the building, Dane pulled Chris up one flight of stars and used a second key to open the first door they came across. He stepped inside, Dragging Chris along with him to stand inside the empty apartment. Chris looked at him questioningly, although he had an idea of why they were there. “It’s ours”, Dane explained excitedly. “I leased it in both our names, you just need to sign and it’s officially our new place.”

“You…you got this…for us?” Chris asked slowly in happy surprise. Dane nodded, squeezing Chris’ hand. “You want to live with me?”

Again, Dane nodded, laughing at how ridiculous that question sounded to him. “Of course I do goof-ball! You practically live at my place already. I just figured we could use something of our own; something bigger and nicer. So what do you say?”

Chris immediately jumped into his partner’s arms, pulling him to a tight hug. “Yes!” he said joyfully. It amazed the young man how truly happy he was. Back when he was still in high school, before Justin, before he discovered himself, he never thought it would be possible for him to be this happy. To be as in love as he is now. During his entire first year at college, he believed he’d never find someone special that he wanted to spend his life with. He just didn’t think that there was anyone out there that he was meant to be with. But right here with Dane, he knew he would be happy for the rest of his life. He didn’t know how he’d gotten so lucky. He was there for him when his family and most of his friends disowned him after he came out to them a few months before. If it wasn’t for Dane’s love, friendship and support, Chris didn’t know if he would have made it through as easily. He did not know what he did to deserve such an outstanding person to share his life with, but he woke up thankful every day for him.

The boys kissed passionately as they danced around their soon-to-be new home excitedly. “Do you have any idea how much I love you, man? I love you so fucking much”, Chris told the man in his arms.

“You’re the love of my life”, Dane said, looking directly into Chris’ eyes. “Now how about you show me just how much you love me in our brand new apartment”, he said, suggestively waggling his eyebrows.

“There’s no bed or couch or nothing”, Chris said, looking around at their roomy and empty apartment.

Dane shrugged. “The floor will have to do!” he announced.

Chris laughed and resumed kissing his boyfriend happily. The couple spent the rest of the day playfully talking about their new place, teasing each other and making love. If it was a glimpse into the life they were about to have, Chris knew he was in for a wonderful ride.

THE END!