“I know,” Andy grumbled.
“There are still places I want to go,” Leonidas explained. “Things I want to see and do, but I want to know after I do them, that I can come to you, wherever you are. And I understand how that is probably selfish of me, but I can’t help it.”
“It’s not selfish,” Andy finally said. “It’s just…not what I’m used to. But neither are you.”
“No.” Leonidas smiled and dipped his chin toward his chest, feeling a blush heating his cheeks.
“Where do you want to go next, then?” Andy asked, taking a deep breath.
“I don’t know,” he answered. “Maybe Morocco.”
“When are you going to go?”
“When are you going to go to Hawaii?” Leonidas smiled and leaned close, pressing their mouths together. Andy’s lips parted and he whimpered, pouring the small and desperate sound into Leonidas’s mouth. Leonidas threaded his fingers through Andy’s hair and held him still, kissing him with the dedication and focused intensity the man deserved.
Leonidas knew while everything in his life might be in play, this man, these feelings, were not.
“I don’t know,” he answered when Leonidas finally gave him breath. “Maybe next month.”
“Then I’ll go to Morocco after.”
“I thought you didn’t want to come to Hawaii,” Andy said.
“I don’t. I’m not. I’ll be here, and you can go, then come back to me.”
Andy’s lips pulled into a tight line, and he blinked, slow and long. When he opened his eyes, they glistened under the dim light of the morning that had crept through the uncovered bedroom window.
“Alright,” Andy whispered, biting his lower lip between his teeth and nodding slowly. “I can do that.”
“Good.”
“If you’re staying, you should probably meet my brothers.”
Leonidas had known that was coming, and he didn’t want to say he was against the idea, but he would be lying if he said the idea of meeting Andy’s local brothers didn’t terrify him. He thought about what it would be like for Andy to meet his parents, to meet Penelope and Aeliana, and he imagined Andy’s fear would be his own but amplified ten thousand times.
And then he realized he had been thinking about when, not if, and he knew…
“I’ll meet them,” he said quickly, “because I love you too.”
Andy rolled his head around his shoulders, blinking up and staring at the ceiling. Moisture pooled in the corner of Andy’s eyes, but he didn’t move to acknowledge it.
“Yeah?” Andy dropped his chin and faced Leonidas head on, a tear finally slicking loose from his right eye.
“As far as moments go,” he said, reaching up and swiping the tear away with the tip of his pointer finger, “this is a good one.”
Andy surged forward and kissed him, pulling Leonidas back down to the bed, but this time instead of on his knees, Leonidas found himself on his back.
Another perfect moment.
* * *
Sunday came too soon, and Leonidas frowned at himself in the mirror. Andy walked up behind him, sliding his arms around Leonidas’s waist and resting his chin on his shoulder.
“You look fine,” he said. “Besides, why do you care if they like you or not?”
“They’re important to you; they’ll be important to me.”
Leonidas turned in Andy’s embrace, pressing a kiss against the top of his forehead.
