That definitely wasn’t happening anytime soon, though. Broken noses took time to heal, and Jude’s doctor told him no vigorous activity with a particularly stern expression. It was probably better in the end. Nally ended up twice as busy as he’d been before, since a lot of his previously scheduled meetings and recording sessions had to be moved to make way for follow-up doctor’s visits and interviews at the police station, not to mention appearances in court. At least Quentin was remanded into custody pending a trial, and from what one of the lawyers they’d consulted at The Chameleon Club told them, thelikelihood of Quentin being sentenced to ten years or more for what he did was very high.
Jude was also busy packing up most of his earthly belongings and moving them to Hawthorne House as his nose healed as well. It didn’t take much of a discussion after the shock of Quentin for him and Nally to get over their ridiculous hesitations and to embrace the fact that they were born for each other.
“Your parents really didn’t have to give me my own recording studio,” he commented to Nally just over two weeks after the miserable night. “But I’m not going to say no to any of this.”
Nally laughed and joined Jude in looking around at the collection of drapes and backdrops, the old furniture that could be moved around to create scenes, and the racks of clothing from the clothing room. “They’ve basically given you your own production studio,” he said. “You could make your own films in here if you wanted to.”
“I just might,” Jude answered. “Everyone loved the reenactment of our hospital visit that we put together.”
In fact, they’d received so many panicked messages and such an outpouring of fearful and tearful support that they’d decided, for their own sanity as much as anyone else’s, to reenact the whole night in a slightly comedic way to deflect from the horror of it all.
“Of course, this could also mean that Mum and Dad want you to teach classes on creating social media content,” Nally went on with a sly grin. “Especially since I don’t have time to teach composition anymore.”
“I wouldn’t mind teaching a class or two,” Jude said with a shrug. “I taught you how to manage your own socials, didn’t I?”
Nally’s grin widened as he pulled Jude in close and wrapped his arms around his waist. “You did,” he said. “And the very best thing you taught me was how to turn off my DMs.”
Jude laughed. “I should turn my own off someday,” he said, sliding his hands down to squeeze Nally’s backside. “Although, speaking of turning things off, or more particularly, turning things on, have I told you how amazing you look this afternoon?”
Nally hummed and splayed his hands across Jude’s back. “Not enough times.”
Jude pinched Nally’s backside. “Cheeky,” he growled.
“Horny,” Nally answered.
That would have made Jude laugh even more, but he kissed Nally hard instead.
That kiss turned into another, then another, and within seconds, Jude’s thoughts flew straight out the window. Kissing hadn’t hurt for days now, and even though it would forever have a slight bump in it, his nose was in perfect shape. Definitely good enough for kissing and more.
“You know,” he said between kisses, tugging Nally’s shirt up so he could slide his hand across warm skin, “we never had that night at the hotel that we were planning before things got weird.”
“We never did,” Nally hummed in return. “And I was truly looking forward to that.”
“Were you?” Jude smiled and kissed Nally again. He angled his hips against Nally’s and felt just how exciting the conversation was for both of them.
“I believe we were going to practice being vers?” Nally said, arching one eyebrow.
“I am so ready for that,” Jude said.
He stepped back and grabbed Nally’s hand, dragging him to the doorway of his new studio. They paused and peeked into the hall to make sure none of the family were nearby. It was the middle of the morning and they wouldn’t have stopped them, of course, but they would have grinned and teased and made all sorts of comments.
They managed to make it back to their flat without any major encounters. Most of the family were in the middle of teaching classes, and even though Early spotted them hurrying through the lobby and waved to them, they were the last person to interfere with a little morning excitement.
“I’ve been looking forward to this for weeks,” Jude said breathlessly once they reached the flat and shut themselves in the bedroom.
“Goddess, so have I,” Nally said, pulling off his shoes as both of them stripped as fast as they could. “Sleeping every night with you and waiting for your nose to heal has been torture.” He froze after pulling his shirt and jumper off over his head in one piece and said, “Your nose is up for this, isn’t it?”
“As long as I don’t use my nose for penetration or push my face into the pillow while you’re nailing me, yes,” Jude answered with a heated grin.
“We’ll have to do it facing, then,” Nally said, eyes bright with excitement.
Jude could hardly keep his enthusiasm contained as he finished undressing and threw back the bedcovers. There were probably a dozen things they should have done to get ready, but as far as he was concerned, there wasn’t time.
“Here,” he said, pulling open the small table on what had become his side of the bed and pulling out a strip of condoms. He tossed them to Nally, then grabbed the bottle of lube from the drawer and flopped onto the bed on his back.
As Nally climbed onto the bed and crawled to kneel between Jude’s open legs, fiddling with the wrapper to get to the condom, Jude clicked open the lube, rolled back, and squirted way too much over his tight hole.
“What the fuck?” Nally laughed, stroking himself so he was good and hard to roll the condom on. “Eager much?”
