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Not to mention Oliver would never fit into the life Victor led, and he would rather die than watch that man slowly grow to resent him.
“I’m sorry,” Victor said. “I can’t regret this week, but I also can’t help but think I made this really complicated.”
“God, it wasn’t you,” Oliver told him. “Neither of us were expecting to feel…”
“Like this?” Victor offered.
Oliver blew out a puff of air and nodded. “Whatever it is—it was worth it. It was so goddamn worth it. I just don’t want to deal with how much it’s going to hurt tomorrow.”
Victor’s hands spasmed on his wheels, and Oliver was pretty sure it had nothing to do with his CP. “Do you want to pretend like tomorrow isn’t happening?”
He rolled his eyes up to the cerulean sky. It seemed darker than usual, almost colder. “No. No, that’s not fair to either of us.”
Victor hummed in agreement, and Oliver wished—just a little—that Victor fought him on that. Reaching his hand out, Oliver let their fingers tangle together. “Can you push yourself like this?”
Victor’s smile was very small as he shook his head. “No. But if you push me, I can hold your hand. Will that work?”
Oliver stood behind him, and Victor reached up, curling their fingers together over the handle. The position of his arm looked awkward and maybe even painful, but he didn’t move. “This will work,” Oliver said softly.
Victor gave his hand a single squeeze, and then Oliver started forward.
* * *
They stayed at the zoo until closing, and he could tell Victor planned on just going back to the rental, packing his things, and preparing to leave in the morning when Oliver told him he had other plans. He parked at the house, but before Victor could get out of the car, he reached for him and held his wrist.
“I arranged something, and I need to go pick it up.”
Victor’s brows rose. “That sounds ominous.”
Laughing, Oliver rolled his eyes. “It’s nothing scary. I promise. It’s just something I remembered from your list.”
Oliver had planned it all out. Victor had gotten on a long phone meeting the day before with his lawyer, so Oliver snuck onto his laptop and searched the whole city until he found a rental agency that had a hatchback. He paid the absurd reservation fee online, and now all he had to do was go pick it up.
And the Lyft appeared just as Victor was shutting off the car.
“You’re not actually leaving me, are you?” Victor asked, sounding like he was truly afraid.
Oliver took him by the chin and held his gaze. “No. Just do me a favor and go inside and wait for me. I promise you’re going to love this.”
He leaned in, and Victor accepted Oliver’s kiss like maybe it was the last one they’d get, and then he knocked their foreheads together and whispered, “I trust you,” before he got out of the car and headed for the stairs.
Oliver’s chest ached as he climbed into the Lyft, and luckily, the driver wasn’t chatty as he headed for the rental. It didn’t take long for Oliver to secure the car, and then he swung by his place and filled the back up with blankets, pillows, and an old lava lamp he found tucked in the back of his closet. It was ancient, and the wax was kind of fucked, and it ran on batteries, but he’d dealt with worse mood lighting.
In his travel bag, he packed condoms, lube, and a couple of unopened toys because he wasn’t going to let this night go to waste. He had hours left where he’d be allowed to touch Victor in all the ways he was craving, and he planned to have the man gasping and begging and seeing God before the night was through.
His last stop was for food, and he raced through Kyoto Market, filling up a basket with far too much. He got a knowing look from the cashier, but he said nothing to Oliver as he paid, then loaded it all into the back.
The only thing left was to drive back and get Victor to come with him without any questions asked. He sent a quick text to his lover, letting him know he was on his way, and he was unsurprised to find Victor waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
He laughed at the sight of the older man’s frown, leaving the car on but leaning out the door. “What?”
“We have two perfectly functional cars between us,” Victor said, pushing up on his crutches.
Oliver nodded. “We do, but neither of them are going to work for what I have planned. Come on, pretty boy. Get in.”
Victor didn’t need telling twice. He didn’t ask questions, instead holding Oliver’s hand and watching the scenery pass by as the horizon darkened and they climbed the slight elevation to the top of the hill that overlooked the darkest part of the city.
And the look on his face when Oliver backed into the spot that overlooked the beach without a single other car around them was absolutely worth it.
