“Really,” Si confirmed.Then he frowned.“Course, not gonna lie, I was pretty bloody ecstatic the day I got me Harley—” He broke off laughing.“Your face!”
“Git.Dunno why I love you.”And that was the biggest lie yet in a lifetime of fucking whoppers.
Si grinned.“Want a refresher course?”
Without waiting for an answer, he swung Zig up into his arms, bridal-carry style.
Zig burst out laughing.“You bastard!”
“Your bastard,” Si said with a knowing look.“Now, the doorways are a bit narrow, so mind your head.Keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times.”He carried Zig swiftly into the bedroom, thankfully without any collisions.
“Gonna throw me on the bed and make me yours?”Zig asked.
“Well, only if you want me to,” Si said politely.
Zig was gonna laugh again, but somehow his eyes were prickling.“I want.I’ve always wanted you.”
Si smiled fondly.“That’s all right, then.You got me.”
He didn’t throw Zig on the bed; he laid him down gently.And that was the fucking word of the day:gentle.His hands were tender as they stripped Zig of his clothes, and soft as they caressed him.His lips didn’t take; they gave, but then that was Si all over, wasn’t it?Zig had to tell himGet on top of me, because he needed that solid weight on him, grounding him.Even then, Si was careful, and it drove Zig wild with love and desire and fuckingthankfulnesshe hadn’t thrown all this away.It spurred him on to turn the tables and take control; to make sure Si felt every bit as loved as Zig did right now.
Si was the best man he’d ever known, and Zig planned to spend the rest of his life making sure he knew it too.
God alone knew how long it was before they were lying under the duvet, cuddled up together, coming down from a high so bloody stratospheric it had to be a danger to satellites.
“I’m never getting out of your bed.”Zig sighed happily.
“Ourbed,” Si insisted.Then his stomach gave a loud rumble.“And while the spirit’s willing, the flesh is bloody famished.Gonna see what I can rustle up.”
He stood, and Zig took a moment to admire the solid bulk of him as he pulled on a pair of jogging bottoms, before jumping up himself and grabbing his jeans.“I’ll give you a hand.”
“You don’t have to.Stay there if you want.”
Zig smiled.“What, without you?Fuck that.The bed’s dead to me now.”
Despite Zig’s complete failure to keep his hands off him, Si made short work of cooking up a quick veggie chili, and opened a bottle of red wine.
Yeah, Zig felt like celebrating too.
“You know your mum wants us round for Christmas dinner?”he remembered to say as they carried their plates into the living room.
“What?”Si asked.
“Bumped into her on the street when I was having a wobbly about it all.She thought I was hungover.”Zig paused.“She said she thought I made you happy?”Despite everything, he couldn’t stop it coming out like a question.
Si looked at him askance.“Course you bloody do, you muppet.Didn’t I tell you?Now sit down, eat your chili, and stop asking daft questions.”
Dad called a couple of days later.The day of the solstice.
Zig’s birthday, and he’d be willing to bet the old bastard had planned it that way.Happy fucking birthday.
It’d started so well too.Like Si had promised, they’d gone up the tor to see in the dawn, and it’d been magical.A crowd of hundreds had felt their way up the path in the dim before-dawn light, and gathered around St.Michael’s Tower.Some were in ceremonial robes but most were wrapped up in warm winter coats.
Zig was one of them.Si hadn’t waited for Christmas to buy him a coat.It was a gorgeous thing in soft, warm wool that reached nearly to his ankles, in a navy so dark it was almost black.It was probably a bit swish for Glastonbury Tor—army surplus looked to be more on trend there right now, although as usual with Glastonbury, anything seemed to go—but Zig fucking loved it.
They stood together, arms around each other, as the officiants gave thanks for the return of the light, and a fire was lit.A beat sounded out from more bodhráns than you could shake a drumstick at, and everyone knelt to touch the earth.At the end, there was singing.It reminded Zig of a church service his gran had taken him to when he was little, only happier.
The musicians he’d seen before were there, and so was Kai, so Zig went over to say hi, and to introduce the bloody awesome bloke he was with.It turned out Si already knew Kai, which maybe Zig should have guessed: Glastonbury was a small town, after all.
