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“For what?” David said. “You are the person you are, and that’s always good enough.” David drew him closer, kissing Noel hard, and soon their conversation seemed far away as David took him to nirvana and brought him back once again.
Noel spentthe afternoon reading and taking notes. He also worked to finish the last of his assignments so he’d be ready for the week. David brought him coffee and lunch, leaving him to work while he did things around the house. It was nice having someone else there, but David didn’t interrupt and let him finish. Back in his apartment, it was sometimes cold. He kept his heat turned low because it was expensive to run, so he didn’t turn it up unless he and Wiggles were really cold. Here at David’s there was light and warmth… in many different ways.
“Are you finished?” David asked as Noel closed his books.
“Yeah. I have everything done.”
“Good, because I have something to show you.” David took his hand, and Noel slid off the stool. He still walked stiffly with his wrapped ankle, but the pain had subsided a great deal. He just had to give it a chance to heal and get stronger.
David handed him his coat, and Noel pulled it on and followed David outside and down the path to a small stone building with the same white trim as the house. “My grandfather used to like to paint in his spare time, and he used this as a studio.” David opened the door, and they stepped inside. The pale walls were covered in primitive landscapes.
Noel looked though the huge windows. There was a small kitchen that probably hadn’t been used in years, the main room that had obviously been used for painting, and a second one that was empty with a bathroom off it.
“I thought this would make a nice little apartment for you and Wiggles… if you want.” He bit his lower lip. “I’d update the kitchen because everything in there is really old. But it has some nice space, and….” David smiled. “I thought you would be a lot closer to the college… and you’d be closer to me.”
Noel blinked as he wandered around the room. An empty easel stood in the corner, and there were boxes and an old chair at one end of the room. But it was open, sunny, and really beautiful. “You want me to move in with you?”
“In a way,” David said. “I worry about you in that apartment. It’s a lot of stairs, and your foot is still healing. The place is also….” David hesitated.
“It’s a dump, but it’s what I can afford and still be able to go to school and get back and forth to work,” Noel supplied, looking again at this light and bright space. It would be the perfect kind of spot for him and Wiggles.
“Well, I happen to know the landlord for this place, and he’s pretty nice.” David grinned. “But don’t think I’m giving this to you. We’ll negotiate the rent and then put everything in writing so there isn’t anything weird about it. I’m thinking three hundred a month is fair, but the tenant has to help me in the yard and stuff.”
“You want me to garden?” Noel asked. “I can do that. I’m not much with plants, but I’m good at trimming shrubs and mowing the lawn.” He could see a home here, a real home, and a chance at a real life. “And maybe we could fix the fountain out there and plant a bunch of flowers. My mother used to have a small yard that was filled with color all year long.”
David put an arm around him. “So did my grandmother, and I want to make the property look the way it did when she was here. I even have the original plan she used.” He sighed, and Noel turned to him.
“Are you sure about this?”
“Why not? You’ll have a better place to live, and I’ll have someone else on the property to help me with some things. Each of us will have our own lives, just like we do now. You’ll be able to go to classes and….” David paused.
“Let me guess. You want me to find another job,” he said. Noel should have known that what he did would be a problem eventually.
“Okay. So I have to admit it. I’m having more trouble that I thought I would with it. I mean, call me old-fashioned, but I don’t want strange men looking at my boyfriend naked… or mostly naked. I want that to be a sight that’s for me. But I’m not going to make it some kind of requirement, and if you want to keep working at the club, I won’t bring it up again. The decision is yours alone, but I wanted you to know that you have options.” He drew Noel closer. “And the offer to stay here has nothing to do with that.”
“Well…,” Noel began.
“You don’t have to make any decisions now, and I’m not going to pressure you. It’s not like I’m going to rent out this space to anyone else.” He hugged Noel tightly. “I just need for you to know that you have someone in your corner and that you get to be the one to make the choices about what you want.”
And just like that, Noel knew what he wanted. It was standing next to him in what could be his new home. No one had ever just supported him like this. “I appreciate that more than you know.” He leaned against David and sighed. Maybe things could work out after all.
“The guyswill be here in a few minutes,” David said.
Noel glanced down at his shirt. He wondered if he looked good enough. David always dressed so well, and most of the time, Noel wore jeans and shirts that he got at the secondhand store downtown. He certainly wasn’t fashionable.
David opened the oven to pull out the quiche that he’d gotten at Sendiks, as well as some bread he’d heated up. Noel had put together a hot onion dip that his mother used to make. It was one of the few things he did cook well, and David had been eyeing it since Noel put it in the oven. “You look nice,” David told him as though he were reading his worries.
“But is it good enough?” Noel asked.
“Of course,” David said as a knock sounded on the door. He opened it, and a group of guys all piled in. “Noel, this is Jake, Clive, Teddy, and his husband, Giles.” David lifted the young boy holding Giles’s hand. “And this is their son, Archie.” He grinned as the little boy hugged him.
“Did you get fish crackers, Uncle David?”
“Yes, he did, and I made up a special bowl for you,” Noel said.
“Everyone, this is Noel. He and I met a few weeks ago.” David smiled, and to Noel’s surprise, each shook his hand, and Archie hurried over so Noel could show him to his fish crackers. Once he had Archie seated with his crackers and a few other munchies, he got the dip out of the oven and helped David set everything up.
“Are you the man David caught the other night?” Giles asked, ruffling Archie’s hair. Noel nodded. “And you two met when he gave you a ride home?”
