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“Fuck,” Jasper groaned. His knees clamped tighter on either side of Konrad’s waist, but he felt weightless and not only physically, the words they’d exchanged creating a lightness in his chest, exempt from the crushing gravity of past wounds.

His lips found Konrad’s earlobe and he sucked it, ignoring the metallic taste of his earring in favor of drawing those gorgeously cracked moans from the man fucking him so good. Konrad shifted his grasp to lift and lower Jasper on his cock, the change making it so that he hit Jasper’s prostate with every thrust, and Jasper was helpless to do anything but ramble his pleasure as he was driven closer and closer to orgasm. “Oh my god, Konrad, fuck, right there—yes, I love you, oh fuck—”

“Say it again,” Konrad groaned. He was close, too. Jasper could feel how hard he was getting.

“I love you,” Jasper said against his ear, burying his fingers in Konrad’s hair. His hole fluttered and squeezed around Konrad’s cock as he came. He moaned, holding on tighter. “I love you, Konrad, I fucking love you.”

Warmth flooded him inside as Konrad followed him over the edge with a shudder. Konrad turned his face and Jasper met him halfway, kissing him again through every twitch and spasm of their shared climax, shakily running his fingers through Konrad’s hair.

“Jeg elsker dig,” Konrad whispered into his hair, where he’d rested his face. Jasper had heard him say it before, in Vegas, and now he thought he had a pretty good idea what it meant.

Jasper stretched out on top of him, shifting down slightly, putting his head on Konrad’s chest. Their legs tangled, covered in a fair amount of paint since Konrad’s clothes didn’t go down that far and it took forever for paint to dry on plastic, since it wasn’t porous.

They lay there for a long while in sweet, comfortable silence, until Konrad looked up at the canvas. “Swans. Like your tattoo,” he remarked. “It’s beautiful.”

Two swans made up the middle of the canvas, one black and one white. In the top left corner was a cluster of irises, only their outlines in blue paint, and in the bottom left corner, the outline of red roses, in red, of course. The empty lines looked incomplete, but Jasper liked how they looked behind the more detailed swans.

Jasper smiled, listening to Konrad’s heartbeat beneath his ear. “Swans mate for life.”

The way Konrad caressed his cheek at that was tender, and Jasper’s eyes slipped shut at the touch.

“Let’s go inside. We can shower, and I’ll take a turn reading our chapter this time,” Konrad suggested.

Konrad was still wearing his briefs, and Jasper collected his hoodie from the toolbox that he’d discarded earlier while Konrad pulled his slacks on. He didn’t get a chance to put his shoes on, because as soon as Konrad had his on, he swept Jasper up and carried him out of the shed. Jasper whistled for the dogs to follow, and they all returned to the house.

The shower involved a lot of making out and even more laughter as they tried to get all the paint off each other. They were mostly successful, and Jasper’s hair was still damp when they got into bed, but he didn’t care. Konrad was naked and Jasper was only wearing a pair of boxers, and he reveled in the feeling of so much of Konrad’s skin against his as they settled under the blankets, Konrad sitting up against the pillows and Jasper’s head on his shoulder.

Konrad had taken his heart and held it so gently in his hands that Jasper had little choice but to accept himself as deserving, lest he reject even a fragment of the precious, unwavering love that Konrad offered. He could only hope to reciprocate it in a way that made Konrad feel just as loved. He wasn’t sure he could ever match what Konrad gave him, but he knew he would try, every day, because he really did love him. Jasper loved him, this man who had climbed all his walls, even when Jasper gave him every reason to stop trying.

Jasper may have given up on love, but Konrad never gave up on him.

Les Miserables awaited them on the nightstand, and Konrad opened it to their place and started to read. His voice was soothing, his presence a balm to the nerves that had riddled Jasper ever since he was offered New York, and he found himself drifting in and out until Konrad read something that crept below his drowsiness and nestled somewhere raw and deep. But not somewhere that ached, not anymore.

In that beautiful, mellifluous voice of his, Konrad read, “‘The greatest happiness in life is to be convinced that we are loved; loved for ourselves—or rather, in spite of ourselves.’”

twenty-four

Seeing Konrad in a T-shirt was always going to be weird, but fuck, Jasper loved how they stretched around his biceps. Konrad was currently wearing pressed, fitted khakis and a wine-colored T-shirt, the dark reddish purple color bringing out his eyes in a way that made it hard to focus on their task for the day. At least Jasper wasn’t alone; more than once, he’d seen Konrad ogling him in the black tank top he wore with his torn black jeans. It was a miracle they’d actually made it to their destination with their respective clothing still on.

“I still think you should have put all the fragile stuff up until they settle in,” Jasper said with concern, holding five leashes in one hand as they walked up the stairs to Konrad’s front door.

“You’ve trained them incredibly well, darling. And if a few trinkets meet their end by way of a wagging tail, I assure you I’ll survive.” Konrad left the key in the lock to bring Jasper’s face toward his for a brief kiss. “Stop fretting your exceptionally beautiful head about it.”

Konrad opened the door and bent to let all the dogs off their leashes.

Jasper hung the five mismatched leashes on the hooks next to one of Konrad’s fancy overcoats, then pushed the door shut with his foot. The dogs were already gone, bounding deeper into the house with varying degrees of enthusiasm, with Gomez racing the furthest ahead while Orion lazily brought up the rear. Jasper quickly pulled his boots off to follow and do damage control, but a large hand snagged his waist and spun him back around.

“Elskede.” Konrad pulled Jasper against him, smiling fondly.

“I know ‘you’ll survive’ if they break something, but—”

Konrad kissed him silent. It was far less chaste than the one he gave Jasper outside, stealing Jasper’s breath, making his eyes flutter shut. He wrapped his arms around Konrad’s neck and only then did Konrad pull away to look down at him. It had only been a week since he’d told Konrad he loved him, yet it didn’t feel too soon for this, for the suitcase full of clothes and car full of dogs they’d just brought to Konrad’s. They would still spend time at Jasper’s, but he would be spending his work week at Konrad’s house—or, as Konrad kept correcting him, their house. Konrad referred to Jasper’s place as their house too. It was really fucking sweet.

Afternoon light poured into the foyer, turning the grey in Konrad’s hair to glimmering silver, strands of winter falling into his autumn eyes.

“We’ve both known what it is to be lonely,” Konrad whispered.

Jasper lightly touched his earring, holding the small gold cross between two fingers.