“You’re more than just a dad to me, Chou.”He made sure to look, to admire for a moment so hopefully Ian could see it in his eyes.
Ian went bright pink, ducked his chin.“Be good, you.”
“I’m being good to you, aren’t I?”
“You’re making me blush.That’s not bad.It’s been a long time.”
“I know.For both of us, yeah?”He touched Ian’s hand, squeezed it.He wanted another kiss.
Instead, he grabbed his sandwich and took a bite.
Oh good.
Ian had this down.
Crispy, crunchy, rich and right — this was a perfect sandwich.
He hummed and took another bite.He pointed at the sandwich.“So good,” he said around the food.
“Yeah.I can make some bacon now.”Ian was chuckling at him, he could tell.
“It is a big turnaround to the last time you tried to make it for me.”
“I know.I learned a lot about patience, about taking my time and trusting the process.”
That was almost like sports philosophy.
He kept eating his sandwich, kept watching Ian, too.He could be patient as well.Take his time and trust the process.
Ian beamed at him, licking the mayo off his bottom lip.“It is good, huh?”
He licked his own lips, watching Ian’s mouth.“It’s very good.”And he wasn’t just talking about the sandwich.
“Yeah.I’m proud.”Ian reached out and brush some crumbs off his chin.
He turned his face to kiss Ian’s fingertips as they went by.
Ian shivered visibly, and those pretty lips parted.He wasn’t ready, but he wished he was.
He wanted to remind Ian exactly who he belonged to.Maybe he didn’t have that right anymore, but it was what he wanted.He thought it was what Ian wanted, too.As soon as he was healed enough to do it.
“Do you think you’ll want to move upstairs soon?”The words were so careful.
“Soon as I can do the stairs without falling and breaking things all over again.”
“I was looking into a stair lift.There’s room, and you could use it as you need it.”Ian nibbled on his sandwich.“It’s expensive, but we could use it.”
Now that was an idea, though it was galling that he might have to use something like that.He wanted to be able to do it himself.
“You sure you wouldn’t mind making that kind of change to the place?”
“Well, it would be useful for things like carrying laundry down, and we’re both going to age.We might need it from time to time.”Oh, that was diplomatic.
“Calling us old, Chou.”He winked, letting Ian know he was just teasing.“Let me think about it?”He wasn’t quite ready to admit that it might be a very long time before he could do those stairs on his own.
“Sure.We have all the time in the world.”Ian sounded as if he meant it too.
“You’re too nice, Chou.”
