Page 60 of Love Language

But now, Greg felt too far away in a different way. He pulled him up into his arms and Greg came willingly.

He settled his boy into his lap and Greg nuzzled into his shoulder. Even fully dressed, there was no doubting Greg’s arousal. But he seemed to be calm. At peace. Ready to accept the nurturing that Marco wanted to give him with no expectation of getting off himself.

Marco pressed soft kisses to his forehead, buried his lips in his hair.

At last, he turned his head up.

Thank you, he signed, adoration in his eyes.

Marco kissed his forehead again. There’s never any reason to thank me.

Greg gave him a smile, but it started to go wobbly.

I thought I’d have more time. His face collapsed, his eyes still dry and red.

I know. We’ll go down together to see your family.

Greg nodded, as though this hadn’t occurred to him yet.

Do you want to tell me about her? What was your favorite memory?

Greg blinked at him, as though the words didn’t make sense. And then he blinked again, like he was remembering.

When I was six, I wanted to be a pirate for Halloween…

Chapter 12 Greg

Greg blinked blearily at the shaft of sunlight coming through his bedroom window. He felt spacy, like he’d stepped outside of himself. Memory was slow to return.

And then it all came rushing back. His mother was… he couldn’t even think it.

Her warm smile, her lively expressions as she signed, the flowery smell of her outdated perfume that immediately made him feel at home.

Memories trickled through his mind. Summer vacations and skinned knees. Practical jokes and sly humor. Calm confidence in the face of their financial worries when he was younger and excitement when she successfully built up her own business after he was an adult.

He loved her so much.

His eyes stung, and he turned his face into the pillow, only to have a pair of strong arms wrap around him.

Marco. Thank God for Marco. Marco was holding those memories with him. Holding him together.

He burrowed into his embrace, taking all the comfort that was offered with greedy hands. Marco was here. Marco would take care of him.

He missed his mother with a fierce ache. And he missed Richard with a remembered sorrow.

But Marco was real and solid and here for him.

Marco had even… he shivered at the memory. Marco had let him touch him. Finally. In a way that he hadn’t even been sure that he was allowed to ask for but had been all the sweeter because of it.

He was pretty sure that Marco hadn’t done that with anyone else.

And that was when it occurred to him that he loved Marco. It was both that warm, comforting love of a close friend, and that fierce, giddy love of a lover. He was in love.

It was terrible timing and probably inappropriate to be thinking about right now.

He needed to mourn his mother. To see his family and grieve together. But after that, he would do everything in his power to let Marco know what he meant to him.

For now, he would just soak up his calm presence and let himself, once again, lean on this beautiful person who continued to give him so much.