“Ejiro,” Obiora whispered hotly, gently tugging his earlobe with his teeth, enjoying his answering shiver. “Baby. I want to suck you off.”
“Oh!” Ejiro stiffened, his nails digging into Obiora’s scalp. He clenched his eyes shut, his expression twisted with pleasured agony at the thought of it alone.
Obiora buried his face in Ejiro’s neck, shaking and trying to breathe through the orgasm threatening to take him over.
“Yes?” Obiora encouraged, nipping at his throat.
“I—” Ejiro hesitated. He swallowed. “Okay,” he said finally.
Obiora smiled, kissing his throat again. He took Ejiro’s mouth in a tender kiss, gently bringing them down from the high, slowly letting Ejiro’s legs drop to the floor.
When he pulled back, Ejiro was flushed, dazed, his lips wet.
“Hi,” he said, nonsensically, dreamily. Obiora laughed, and couldn’t help but kiss him again.
He took Ejiro’s hand, and led him off the small entrance nook—the bathroom was on the right, his bedroom up ahead opposite them, and the second bedroom he’d turned into a workout area in the top right corner of the corridor. The sitting room slash kitchen and dining were through an open entryway on the left.
As Obiora began to lead him there, Ejiro stopped him, gently tugging on his hand.
“Wait.” Ejiro licked his lips and sidled closer until he was pressed up against Obiora’s side. He couldn’t meet Obiora’s eyes as he whispered, his voice low and soft, “You said you want—I mean—” God, he couldn’t even say the words; he was so fucking endearing.
Obiora cupped his face in his hands, grinning and kissing his forehead. “All the words in the world couldn’t even begin to describe how badly I want you,” he admitted huskily. “But you’re obviously not ready.”
Ejiro swallowed visibly. “But I—I want it. I want you,” he confessed, like it was a secret.
A hot bolt of desire shot up Obiora’s legs, which he ignored.
“You can want me and still not exactly be ready, baby,” Obiora said, pecking him on his lips. Then he leaned in closer to whisper, “Besides, I like my consent explicit; absolutely zero hesitation.”
When he pulled back, Ejiro was staring at him with shining eyes. Obiora didn’t need to hear Ejiro say those three words to recognise that they were what were lighting up his expression.
“I love you,” Obiora responded to the silent declaration.
Ejiro trembled, his eyes getting shinier.
Obiora’s entire being seemed to soften. He stroked the back of Ejiro’s palm with his hand. “Food’s on the stove”—Ejiro had skipped breakfast, too excited and nervous to eat as he’d told Obiora earlier in the morning before he’d gotten on his train—“but I was wondering if maybe you’d like to cuddle on the sofa for a bit? I’ve just—I’ve missed you. And to be honest, I’d also like to compensate for all the times during the competition where I wanted to hold you but I couldn’t.”
Ejiro laughed, though the shine didn’t leave his eyes. “That’s probably going to be a lot of cuddles.”
“An infinite amount of cuddles, yes,” Obiora said, winking.
Ejiro grinned, his happiness sunny and unreserved. “Come on, then. Cuddling sounds perfect.”
EJIRO MISSED HIS EVENING TRAIN back to Manchester twice, only forced to get off his butt when it was literally the last train of the night. He’d have stayed over, but Obiora was right, he wasn’t ready. God, he loved him.
They’d ended up making out at the station as they’d waited for his train. Ejiro didn’t think the simple act of kissing had ever felt so good. With Sam, kissing almost always led to sex; she’d never let them just enjoy the intimacy of making out itself, even though most of the time, that was all he might’ve wanted to do at the moment. Of course, he hadn’t minded having sex with her when she wanted, but he was beginning to realise there was a difference between “not minding” and—as Obiora had eloquently put it—“explicit consent”.
Obiora trying to get himself attuned to Ejiro’s body language spoke of how much Obiora cared about him and what he wanted, which made Ejiro love him all the more.
When the train finally arrived, they shared one last heated kiss before they parted, then immediately started texting the moment they were apart, and the train was taking him home.
Can’t wait to see you again, Ejiro sent, his blood bubbling like champagne as it did every time they texted each other. He felt like a lovesick teenager as he added a blushing emoji. Today was so, so lovely.
All they’d done was eat food and hang out, in the simplest sense of the word; making out, watching TV, taking a nap together, then cuddling and talking about nothing and everything. And even though his mother had called him later in the afternoon, completely oblivious of where he was and who he was with, nearly tainting his day as she’d hounded him about when he was coming back “home”, it was still the best date Ejiro had ever had.
Miss you already, Obiora replied almost instantly, with the heart-eyed emoji.
Ejiro resisted the urge to hug the phone to his chest.
