Page 27 of The New Place

“I had to. I love you.”

Abbot touches the backs of his knuckles to Ned’s cheek. “I love you too.”

“Good,” Ned says, his grin goofy, his eyes bright.

“Let’s—”

“Yeah,” Ned agrees, and there’s the familiar scrape of the nightstand drawer, the pop of the plastic cap on the lube.

Abbot shifts, his knees drawing up, his feet flat on the bed. At his nod, Ned presses a finger inside of him, and Abbot’s chin comes up, his throat working.

Ned kisses his cheek once, quickly, before pushing up to kneel, one hand on his own cock and the other supporting the rest of his weight.

Oh. Oh. Ned slides in so slowly, and Abbot breathes through it, impatient and wanting to relish the moment all at once. He rocks his hips up and Ned answers with a gentle thrust, and then another, pressing into him.

It’s so good. It’s always so good, Ned’s smile so wide, his face flushed, his skin going tacky with sweat. Abbot relaxes into the feel of him, so very full with that low, dull throb of pleasure.

Ned lifts one of Abbot’s legs and hooks his arm underneath it, shifting his own weight, angling just so and⁠—

“Ah,” escapes Abbot’s mouth and Ned laughs, his eyes already glassy.

Abbot’s skin feels too tight, delicious heat coursing through him, pooling in his stomach as he strokes himself, not the languorous touch of them taking their time, but quick, hard tugs on his cock. Slow is for later tonight, when they’ll keep each other up far too late. Now, Abbot grips Ned’s arm, and Ned puts his back into it, driving a stuttering “Ah, ah, ah,” from Abbot that he hears and cannot stop.

“I got you,” Ned whispers. “You feel so good, I got you, c’mon.”

“Don’t stop,” Abbot whispers, but Ned won’t, Ned never does, just holds him and pushes into him, over and over and⁠—

“Oh, fuck,” Ned moans, the word breaking as Abbot’s blood rushes hot through him, muscles tightening, pleasure a hook inside him that tugs him forward until he’s spilling over, undone.

His entire body tingles, the world and his sense of it far away from the pant of their breath slowing, the shine of come on his stomach, the pillow that’s ended up sideways. Slowly, Ned lowers Abbot’s leg, and he gently pulls out of him. Another day, Abbot would let him get up and go find a cloth, but tonight he drags him down, enjoying the mess of their bodies. He smooths the hair back from Ned’s forehead and kisses him once, twice, and then again, sinking into each press of their mouths, slow and liquid.

He gets cold before he’s done kissing Ned, a rude intrusion of reality into their hold on each other, and with a sigh, Abbot finally pulls away. He grabs the edge of the blanket, finds it, and hauls it up over them both, and that’s better, a warm cocoon of just the two of them.

How very lonely this bed has been. What a gift to have Ned here with him to curl into, as they hold each other close.

And they have the rest of this evening. The hours of tonight, and however much time tomorrow morning too, before Ned has to leave.

“Don’t get up,” Ned says, pinning Abbot’s foot with his when Abbot finally twists, sticking an arm out of their cozy den to reach for his pants on the floor.

“I’m not,” Abbot says, but Ned still keeps a grip on his waist as he stretches, then retreats back into the bed with his phone in his hand. “I’m getting food.”

“My budget says no, but I think my stomach is saying yes,” Ned says.

“I’ll pay for it.”

“Nah, I’ll get you back half.” Ned squirms close enough it’s hard for Abbot to tap at the phone and see the screen over his head. What a delightful bother, Ned’s head tucked against Abbot’s chest, his hair tickling his nose.

Ned stretches, letting his toes draw over the top of Abbot’s foot, then hooks his knee over his thigh. “Get those little crunchy things.”

“One order of little crunchy things,” Abbot says.

“What are they?”

“Curry puffs.”

“Yeah, those. And the good noodles.”

“What a shame. I’m only in the mood for the bad noodles,” Abbot says, and Ned’s laugh warms his skin. How did he survive a month without this man? He rolls toward Ned, letting his phone drop into the bed and drawing his hand down Ned’s spine, over his ass, along the length of his thigh.