Kaj laughed. “I just won’t be too rough, too bossy, or use degrading language.”
“You know I’m okay with that. Turns you on. Turns me on.” Noah shrugged.
“Yeah, but I need to be in a different headspace so I don’t overdo it and hurt you.”
Noah raised an eyebrow. “Fair,” he said while drying his body. “Your birthday is in a few days; you want me to put a red ribbon on my dick and offer my ass for you to destroy it?”
Kaj barked out a laugh, but the image sent a spark of heat through his spent body. Also, that Noah remembered his birthday made his heart flutter stupidly. “As tempting as that sounds,” he said, wrapping the towel around his waist. “I’d rather have this conversation when we’re not about to pass out.”
“Fair point. My brain feels like mush.”
They made their way back to the bedroom, the sheets still rumpled from their earlier activities, but now two cats were on the bed. One of them was lying in that classic loaf pose with all four paws under its body, the other was licking its ass.
“They were probably hiding before, scaredy-cats.” Noah flashed them a mocking glance. “Meet Cheeto and Trinity.” He motioned to the furballs.
Kaj snorted. “Let me guess. The orange cat is Cheeto and the one with three colors is Trinity.”
“Yeah.” Noah shrugged.
“So original.”
“Easy to remember.”
“Right.” Kaj’s left eyebrow shot up involuntarily. “Who took care of them while we were away?”
“My mom. I’d have left them with her, but they hate one of her dogs. So, on her daily walk around the neighborhood, she came by to check on them.”
“Sounds kind of lonely for them.”
“Better than the stress of being with other animals they can’t stand in a house that’s not theirs. Besides, they have each other.”
“They do look unbothered.”
"They are.” Noah smiled.
He shooed the cats so they could change the bedding, still dampened from sweat and the semen that had leaked out of Noah’s ass. Kaj smirked at the thought, then picked up all the clothes they’d scattered on their way to Noah’s bedroom earlier and left them in a heap on a chair there.
The sky outside had lightened to a pale lavender, the first proper signs of morning creeping across the city as the drummer reached for his underwear.
“Stay,” Noah said.
Kaj froze with his boxers dangling from his fingers. Although they’d slept together some nights during the tour, most of the time one or the other always left after they were done fucking. It made it easier to maintain that invisible line between sex and something more complicated. But here, in Noah’s apartment, surrounded by his memories and everything that made him who he was… It was a lot more personal.
“You sure?” Kaj asked, uncertain. A part of him wanted to stay for several reasons he wasn’t going to analyze now, but the other was afraid this might confuse things.
Noah nodded. “I mean, if you want to. To save you the trip back to Copenhagen when you clearly could use some sleep.”
The idea of simply falling on the bed and letting Morpheo take him sounded incredibly appealing. “Just for tonight.”
“Of course.”
Noah drew the curtains closed to block the sun and climbed into bed first, settling on the side closer to the window. Kaj hesitated a moment longer before dropping his boxers and sliding under the sheet with him.
They lay with their backs toward each other, keeping a safe distance between them, the silence broken only by their breathing, the city waking up, and two cats purring—one was perched on Noah’s hip, the other at their feet.
Kaj liked animals more than a lot of people, but he’d never been emotionally stable or been around enough to take care of them. So, he’d never had any, but this was so relaxing. After months on the road, living in the artificial bubble of tour life, being back in the real world felt surreal. Like they’d stepped into some parallel universe.
Noah yawned. “Do you have plans for tomorrow?”
