Page 48 of Another Chance
“Oh my God,” Eric whispered as he figured it out finally. This whole time, he had wondered if Theo was going to be leaving him, and the whole time, Theo had just been nervous about doing this. Eric was willing to admit that he’d misread this situation a little.
“Yeah,” Theo let out a huff of air, and then, still holding Eric’s hand, he actually, honest to God, went down on one knee in front of him, gazing up at him with his beautiful hazel eyes almost glowing with hope and fear and nerves and love. Most of all, with love. “Eric, I love you. I know it’s soon and I know it’s probably crazy, but I’ve loved you for more years than I can count. Please, marry me?”
They had been dating for, what, a few months? And part of that time had been pretty uncertain as to if what they were doing could actually be considereddatingexactly. Theo was right, it was too soon, far too soon, and he was insane for even considering it, but what else had Eric ever wanted but to know that Theo was his, really his, just as he was Theo’s.
“If we get married, it’s forever,” Eric’s voice was slow, thinking about each word as he said it. “I mean it, Theo. I won’t lose you once I have you for real.”
As he spoke, he held out his left hand, pulling it gently from Theo’s grasp and offering the ring finger to Theo.
“Forever sounds perfect,” Theo admitted, as he opened the box and pulled out a golden band, set with a few small diamonds which glittered in the sunlight which streamed through the window. It was very tasteful and very masculine, and Eric had to blink hard as he looked down at the ring as it was slid onto his left ring finger.
And just like that, he was engaged. He was going to be married. Married to his Teddy, to his best friend, to the one and only person that he had ever wanted, and the one person that he had been utterly certain that he would never have.
Eric fell to his knees and locked his arms around Theo, his fingers gripping desperately at his hair as he kissed him like his life depended on it.
“You know what I’m thinking?” Eric murmured when their lips finally parted, their faces still very close together, so close that they could, and Eric thought, probably would, kiss again at any second.
“What are you thinking? I’m betting it’s something perverted,” Theo returned, grinning, and Eric gave an unashamed little shrug. Theo knew him pretty well, it seemed.
“Yeah, kinda,” Eric admitted, and he rose to his feet, pulling Eric along with him. “I was thinking maybe it’s time to break that brand new mattress of yours in.”
Theo returned his grin as he let Eric pull him up, and Eric was glad to see signs of sincere interest, a warmth in his eyes, a seductive quirk to his lips. Though it often seemed completely impossible to him, Theo did really seem to want him as much as he wanted Theo.
“Yeah. I can get behind that,” Theo whispered, and he looked briefly strange, withdrawn, almost conflicted before he came back to himself and spoke again. “I want something different this time. I want to know what you feel when I’m inside you.”
Eric blinked. He and Theo had talked about this before, about switching, but as far as Eric had ever known, Theo had never actually gotten brave enough to go for it. So this was news to him, and he’d had no real time to prepare for this, to know how to deal with this moment now that it had come.
Not that there was any chance of him saying no, no matter how nervous he was.
“You sure?” he checked, and Theo nodded without any hesitation whatsoever.
“Yeah. I always sort of thought if I did do this with a guy, it would be the guy I spent my life with. And that’s you. So if you want me, babe, you can have me.”
Those words, well, they had to be up there in terms of the sexiest things that Eric had ever heard. Way up there. With his heart pumping furiously and his body clenched tight with lust, Eric grabbed Theo around the waist and tugged him up the flight of stairs to the master bedroom.
It still felt so dirty to be there. This had been the bedroom which Theo’s parents had shared, and not a place where they had been particularly allowed to go. Feeling about fifteen and naughty, guilty, Eric found himself tiptoeing as he entered the room, and he laughed when he saw that Theo was doing the same.
“I wonder if that will ever start to feel normal?” Theo asked, and Eric grinned as he dragged Theo to the bed, then laid him down on it, excitement and love and desire all mingling in his mind and heart and body, confusing and turbulent like a storm cloud, but not at all in a bad way.
“You wanna feel really weird?” Eric asked, and then he grabbed Theo, overexcited and just a little bit rough with him, his fingers gripping at that soft, shaggy hair, pulling him in for a kiss which threatened to bruise their lips and steal their breath entirely.
“Yeah. Take your clothes off.” Theo’s voice didn’t hold even a hint of compromise. It was almost an order, but luckily, it was one which Eric had no problem at all with following.
“Bossy,” he accused, even as he was pulling away, slipping off the bed and already getting tangled in his clothes. Nerves or not, he was definitely ready to do this. Despite the awkwardness, he still managed to be out of his clothes within a few seconds, shaking them off onto the floor.
“Oh God,” Eric whispered, suddenly horrified. “Wait a second, babe. I didn’t bring condoms or anything. They’re back at my house.” It was just back across the street, but that wasn’t a trip which Eric found himself particularly eager to make just then.
“It’s okay. I sort of thought this might happen,” Theo admitted, and he got up, and Eric got to catch a glimpse of his beautiful, round ass as he ran off to the front area where a lot of their clothing had been left.
In seconds, he was back, racing into the room and tossing two foil packetsonthe nightstand. One was the condom, the other an individual portion of lube. Theo really had thought of everything, it seemed, and Eric was going to be eternally grateful.
“I wanted to talk to you about something, though,” Theo admitted, and Eric’s eyes narrowed in disbelief.
“Now?” he asked, and Theo actually had the nerve to laugh at him like it was funny. Which it probably was, he had to admit, even if it annoyed him. He just wasn’t so much in the mood for a lot of talkingright now, not when he’d only just gotten engaged.
“Yeah. When’s the last time you got tested?” Theo asked, and Eric took a second. At first, he didn’t really know what Theo meant, but he picked it up quickly enough, and he also had the sneaking suspicion that he just might know why Theo was asking.
“Oh. Uh.” Eric thought back. “Just over a year ago.” He locked eyes with Theo and gave him a bit of a smirk. “Since the last time I was with anyone. I’m clean.”
