Page 100 of Septembers

What was happening? He had no control. He couldn’t breathe. Could barely think.

Tara? The way his dad had said her name, this person he’d once claimed to care about, kept echoing, as if his dad was still sitting on the couch, repeatedly saying it like she meant nothing.

That was how his dad thought of people. That was the DNA he’d passed on to his son.

Theo vaguely heard the door open but couldn’t do anything about it.

“Theo?” Hands were on his shoulders, helping him sit up, then he was pulled into warmth and softness as Dae’s arms circled his body. “You’re okay.”

Theo buried himself deeper into Dae’s comfort, resting his head on his shoulder, his hands twisting into the fabric of his shirt. He wasn’t ready for words yet. Wasn’t ready to admit what was happening to him.

Fuck, what was happening to him?

His breath started to slow as Dae rubbed his back, his hands moving in slow circles, never in the same spot twice. “You’re safe,” he whispered, his breath a warm tickle on Theo’s ear. “You’re alright. You’re okay. You’re not alone.”

It was enough to pull the words from the heavy vault buried in his chest. “What if I’m just like him?”

Dae squeezed him tighter. “You’re not.”

It came out with such force that Theo managed to lift his head. Dae’s eyes were dark and intense, and his still-damp hair stuck to his forehead.

“How do you know?” Somewhere in the back of his panicking consciousness, he knew it was a lot to put on him, but he was desperate for the answer. And whatever Dae said, he was willing to believe.

“Because you care.” He raised a hand to wipe away a tear from Theo’s cheek. “You help people without even thinking about it.”

Did he? He didn’t feel that way. Couldn’t remember a single instance.

Dae’s rough fingertips dragged against Theo’s skin as his hand slid down to his neck to hold him steady. “Like what you did for Aunt Liana.”

Theo had no idea what he was talking about. He gripped Dae’s shirt tighter, pulling him closer. Fuck, he needed him closer. “I didn’t do anything.”

Dae shook his head, gently stroking the bottom of Theo’s jaw with the pad of his thumb. “She told me at the café opening—she never would’ve done it without you encouraging her. You give people confidence, Theo.” He paused to let the words settle and Theo tried to let them. If Dae was saying it, it was possible it could be true. “And Jordan…” he continued. “Would she be following her dream without you? I don’t think you realize the effect your belief in people has.” He gave him a soft smile. “Look how much you helped me.”

“You?” All Theo could remember of the past seven years was Dae’s help, Dae’s support, Dae’s quiet strength getting him through each day.

Dae’s voice was a whisper. “Do you really not know?”

Theo leaned forward, wanting to devour each word, watching Dae’s lips as they moved, creating the soft, beautiful sounds.

“Theo, without you, I would’ve faded into the background of my own life.”

His heart was raging for an entirely different reason now. Dae was so close, drinking Theo in with a gaze that roamed down to his lips. His hand was still nestled on Theo’s neck, Theo’s fingers still curled into his shirt.

He wanted to kiss him. And for once, it didn’t feel like a disaster. For once, it felt like he could have what he wanted. Like maybe he deserved it.

He leaned towards him slowly, just a little, not all the way, leaving it in Dae’s hands. For a single crackling moment, Dae froze, his breath catching.

And then his lips found Theo’s, and the very axis of the universe shifted with the power behind one, soft, lovely kiss, feather-light and over too quickly. Dae shifted back to look at him, his pupils blown wide, and Theo memorized everything about him: the pink of his cheeks, the shine of his lips, the desire in his eyes. And then he leaned in again, the press of his lips a plea.

Please, Dae. Give me more.

Their mouths moved slow at first, sliding together, then apart, heads tilting, breath tickling. Dae. He was kissing Dae, and it was lighting him on fire in a way he hadn’t been prepared for, not even after years of imagining it. The wanting was almost frightening—how much he needed it, how he knew, somewhere in the depths of himself, that this was right.

Theo parted his mouth, inviting him in, and their bodies melted together as Dae deepened the kiss, his hand moving to the back of Theo’s head, tangling into his hair. Theo’s hands roamed, wrapping around Dae’s middle, and he shifted, practically crawling into his lap in his desperation to get closer, to be completely consumed by him in every way.

Dae. His Dae. He’d wanted this for so long.

The kisses became desperate, frantic, lips parting with gasping breath only to come back together, as if they needed to make up for all the lost time. Dae’s guttural moan as Theo slid his tongue against his sparked something deep in his gut. He was so fucking hard, but this was about so much more than sex, so much more than attraction. It was everything Theo had ever dreamed it would be. Not perfect, but something far better—real. He was kissing Dae, and Dae was kissing him back, and life stretched out before him as a glowing, thrumming thread of happiness.