Ward shrugged. “That one I had to look up while I was getting gas on the way to LA,” he said. “Figured if I missed you I’d just have to fly there instead.”
“Yeah?” I asked.
“Yeah. I’d made up my mind that I had to tell you how I felt,” he said. “Dad might’ve helped.”
“I’ll have to get him flowers or something.”
“You know, I think he’d unironically love that,” Ward said. “He loves you so much.”
“Did he tell you about the time I sat at your kitchen table crying to him about how I was pretty sure I liked boys, and you specifically, and he gave me a hot chocolate and told me I should trust you with my feelings, that he didn’t think you’d be weird about it?”
“He did,” Ward said a moment later. “While he was telling me all about how I had to go get you. Not in exactly those words, but…”
I laughed, scratching the back of my neck. “Well. Maybe I should’ve taken his advice back then.”
“You can disagree with me here, but I’m glad things worked out the way they did,” Ward said, thumb rubbing circles on the back of my hand.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, I mean, you had to go do your thing, and I had to figure out what mine was. We’re grown ups now. It’s… it’s different. I dunno. I feel lucky that I get to love the guy you grew up into,” he said. “And the kid you used to be. You’re not a different person, but you are different. Still think you’re the coolest person in the world though.”
“I can’t be the coolest person in the world,” I said as we drove past the Welcome To Otter Bay sign. “Because you are.”
Ward burst into laughter, and with the afternoon sun in his hair and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, I couldn’t help thinking I was the luckiest man in the world ifthiswas what I was coming home to.
I couldn’t wait to be home.
* * *
The only thingbetter than opening the front door to the cabin with my own key when we arrived back in Otter Bay was waking up next to Ward the day after, snuggled up in soft sheets that smelled a little of him and a little of me.
“Morning,” he murmured as I nuzzled his cheek, nudging him for a sleepy kiss until he gave in and let me roll him onto his back. Ward grunted as I climbed on top of him, but I didn’t let him fool me into thinking he wasn’t into it.
“Were you always a morning person?” he asked, sleep-rough and perfect.
“No,” I said, laughing. “Don’t you remember having to physically drag me out of bed that time we went to visit your grandma for her birthday? But enough five o’clock starts will change a man.”
“They made you get up at five o’clock?” Ward said, like I’d just told him about a war crime.
“I had to get up a lot earlier than five.” I laughed again, pressing a kiss to his mouth and sliding my hand between the pillows at the same time, searching for…
Got it.
“Glad you quit then, that was inhumane,” Ward said, warm hands running down my bare sides and coming to settle on my hips. “What’s that smile about?”
My smile broadened into a grin as I showed him the half-empty tube of lubricant that had still been where I left it, tucked between the mattress and the headboard.
Ward laughed, fingers squeezing my hips. “You ever think about anything other than sex?”
I raised an eyebrow, shifting back to demonstrate that I hadn’t missed his morning wood. “Do you?”
“That’s… normal,” Ward defended, a blush rising on his cheeks.
“Right, for me too,” I said, bending down again. “I’m not used to waking up next to someone yet.”
“Me neither,” Ward confessed, so close to my face that his lips brushed against mine, setting off a little butterfly migration in the pit of my stomach. “How long do you think it’ll take for the novelty to wear off?”
I giggled as I kissed him again, letting myself sink into the warmth of his mouth, of his body, gasping as he ran his fingers down the sensitive back of my thigh. His other hand tried to uncurl my fingers from the lube, but my grip only tightened.
