by Elinor Gray
With a murmur of appreciation, Adam palmed David’s cock through the briefs. At the same time, he leaned up and kissed David’s belly above his navel. David resisted the urge to flex his abdominals and show off. Adam would be able to feel them just the same. His cock throbbed under the gentle attention. Adam gave it a squeeze, rubbing his hand up and down the length, and David couldn’t help the way his hips jerked, seeking more contact.
Adam looked up at him, smirking, his eyes dark and intent. His other hand caressed David’s side, and David caught it to squeeze and bring it to his pec. Adam got the hint and rubbed the nipple under his fingers, sending more pleasure dancing along David’s nerves. His cock twitched again, leaking precome through the fabric of his briefs. David’s face felt hot, but he kept his eyes fixed on Adam’s.
“Can I?” Adam asked, lifting the gap in the front of his briefs with the tips of his fingers.
“Go ahead.” David’s tongue felt thick in his mouth. Adam dipped his fingers in and pulled David’s dick out through the gap, where it stood proud and stiff, the foreskin pulled back and the tender head exposed.
“Nice,” Adam murmured, taking David’s cock in his hand and giving it a slow stroke, still playing with David’s nipple. David reached out, and found Adam’s bare shoulders where he could get a good grip. Adam stroked him a few more times, his hand moving slowly, pushing David’s foreskin up until it engulfed the head and then pulling back down so that the precome dribbled down his shaft. Finally, finally, he retrieved the condom and tore the packaging open. David’s eyes fluttered shut as Adam rolled it down over his dick and then opened again at the touch of Adam’s tongue. Adam licked slowly up the underside of David’s cockhead and then fit his mouth around the whole thing.
David breathed, “Fuck,” as he was engulfed in heat, and felt Adam smile. He slid his hand into Adam’s hair again, ruffling it the wrong way, and Adam reached up quickly to press his hand over David’s, indicating he could grab on there. Then he brought his hands down to hold David’s cock, pointing it up for easy sucking. David’s eyes closed; he couldn’t help it. Adam worked his cockhead gently, his tongue moving around it and over it, letting his saliva run out of the corners of his mouth, slicking his grip as he worked his hand up and down. Each time he pushed his mouth down, he went lower, taking more of David’s cock in, until his lips met the circle of his fingers. He had let go of David’s cock with one hand and was now reaching into his briefs again to fondle David’s balls.
Forcing his eyes open, David looked down his body at where Adam was engulfing him, his pale hands on David’s darker skin, the hunch of his shoulders as he took David in deep. David skimmed his hands over Adam’s head and shoulders, caressing the shells of his ears with his thumbs and rubbing the muscles of his neck. Adam moaned, the sound practically vibrating through David’s body, and David’s cock pulsed in his mouth. His peak was approaching, coaxed by every firm suck of Adam’s mouth, every stroke of his clever fingers, every gentle press of his knuckles against David’s balls. David’s thighs were trembling as he fought the urge to fuck Adam’s mouth, and he imagined what Adam would taste like on his own tongue if he ever had the chance, what Adam’s face would look like when David fucked him, his knees spread wide, his cock slapping against his own belly.
“I’m gonna come,” David said roughly, squeezing Adam’s shoulder. Adam gave his thigh an answering squeeze and sucked harder, his hand working faster, pulling the orgasm out of David’s core. David felt his thighs tighten and the pleasure reach a peak, and then he was spurting hard, groaning with the force of it. Adam held his head still but kept his hand moving, wringing David dry. When David finally collapsed back onto the couch, his whole body limp, Adam eased the condom off, tossed it in the trash, and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He was red-cheeked, his lips were plump and gleaming wet, and he looked downright smug. He had every right. David let out a shaky breath and sat up, then leaned down to kiss Adam square on the mouth.
Adam kissed back eagerly, wiping his messy hand on his own side before cradling David’s face. He was trembling, and his cock between his legs was tenting his boxers obscenely. David reached down to touch it and Adam whined into his mouth.
“Switch with me,” David said, even though he hadn’t fully recovered. Adam climbed off the floor, and David took his place clumsily, legs still shaking.
“This isn’t going to take long,” Adam warned, pushing his boxers down. David pulled them the rest of the way off and nudged Adam’s knees apart. Adam’s dick was rock hard, and his balls were pulled up tight. His pubes were darker than the hair on his chest. David buried his nose in them, which made Adam moan loudly and his cock twitch against David’s cheek.
A second condom packet was being thrust toward him, and David sat back to open it and roll it down over Adam’s cock. Then he took Adam in hand again and licked his tip with the flat of his tongue, wishing he could taste the salty-sweet of his precome. He fit beautifully into David’s mouth. David could feel how close he was in the stiffness of his dick, the way the head pulsed against his tongue, and set to bringing Adam off as quickly and as powerfully as he could. He sucked and fondled and swallowed, and in a few short minutes, Adam was gasping his name and bumping his hips up in little aborted thrusts. David bobbed his head, meeting Adam as he squirmed, and was rewarded with a short groan and the hard flex of Adam’s cock as he came.
David eased off gently and let Adam’s breathing slow before he removed the condom and disposed of it. When he came back, Adam reached out for him with both arms. David climbed onto the cushions and let himself be dragged down into an embrace, arms and legs all tangled together. When Adam kissed him again, it was slowly and with appreciation.
“Didn’t get much knitting done,” David murmured.
Adam snorted a laugh. “My hands were definitely too busy.”
One Week Before Christmas
A PHONE was ringing somewhere nearby. Adam blearily lifted his head up off an unfamiliar pillow and looked around in confusion. It wasn’t his phone ringing or even the sound of his alarm. This wasn’t his bedroom, and that was David Okoye rolling over to get out of bed. Immediately Adam felt chilly, and he pulled the blankets up over his shoulders again in David’s absence.
“Hey, Momma,” David said, out in the hall. “It’s seven a.m.” He laughed softly. “Yes, you did—you know what time it is here. No, I don’t mind.”
Adam closed his eyes, settling back into the warmth of the bed. David had a queen, almost big enough for both of them. He had plenty of pillows, the number of pillows a gay man ought to have, warm flannel sheets, and heavy, thick blankets. He had the right idea when it came to comfort.
After the exchange of blowjobs on the couch, they’d managed to go ice skating, watch a high school version of The Nutcracker, and have sex five more times in four days. David had spent that first night at Adam’s, and then they’d fucked in the morning before he’d gone home to get ready for the school week. Monday night David had come over again, and they’d made it to the bedroom that time. Last night Adam had convinced David to come to Knit Night so that he could supervise the progress of his sampler/scarf, and then they’d gone two rounds at David’s since it was closer to the knitting shop. Adam was sore in all the right places, sticky in even more, and enjoying this lead-up to Christmas more than he ever had. His birthday was in three days.
David was leaving in one.
“Yeah, tomorrow,” David was saying into the phone. “School lets out at three, and there’s no after-school program, so I’m going straight to the airport. My flight is at five forty-five and I have a forty-five-minute layover in Chicago, so I’ll be in Philadelphia at midnight. Yeah, I know. It’s really late. Well, send Jem to pick me up, eh?” Something about his voice had changed as he’d spoken; it had gotten more lyrical, his consonants more pronounced. Adam did something similar when he went to Florida to visit his mom; he started to sound more like her and that whole side of the family. It was kind o
f nice to hear someone else doing it, even though the topic of conversation made Adam’s stomach sink. He was fully awake now.
“Yeah,” David said, more softly, laughing, “I’m really excited. I miss you too, and tell Dad as well. I’ll be there soon. How are the kids? Getting excited? I’ll take them ice-skating on Saturday. No, Momma, I’m sure the rink will be open. No, I won’t be too jetlagged. It’s Christmas!”
Adam put his head under the covers and made himself stop listening. He didn’t care what David’s family was doing for Christmas. They’d be doing it in Philadelphia, a couple thousand miles from Whitesprings, Colorado. David was leaving the next day and abandoning Adam for his birthday, as was inevitable. He’d known that was the deal from the beginning, but somehow he’d made himself forget.
That wasn’t really true. David leaving had been hovering around the edge of his consciousness since they’d gone to see the tree lighting, and he’d done his best to ignore it. No luck now. He was going to have to start thinking about what TV show to binge on his birthday, so at least he’d have something fun to do.
“Sorry about that,” David said, lifting up the covers and letting a wave of cold air in as he climbed back into bed beside Adam. “My mom knows perfectly well what time it is here, and she calls me anyway.”
“Shouldn’t you be getting ready for work?” Adam asked.
David had been cuddling up to him, wrapping one strong arm around Adam’s waist and snuggling up against his back, but he stilled and pulled away a little. “I mean,” he said cautiously, “I’ve got ten more minutes before the alarm goes off. Unless you’re ready to get up.”
Adam didn’t reply, because he knew he was being an asshole. David took his silence as permission not to get up again and lay with his arm snug around Adam’s middle. Adam could feel him breathing against the back of his neck. He closed his eyes and tried to relax, tried not to replay David’s conversation with his mom, tried not to picture David getting onto the plane and flying away from here and leaving Adam all alone again.
He really needed to get back to his own friends. David was a nice diversion, but Adam hadn’t confirmed anything for the twenty-fifth yet with Kevin and Rachel. He had a shift at the store to get to and an article on knitting Icelandic colorwork that wouldn’t write itself. David had been showing him a good time these past few weeks, but it would take more than that to convince Adam that Christmas was worth celebrating. Ice-skating downtown on the pop-up rink had nothing on years of mutually loathing parents making a worldwide holiday into an alcohol-and-spite-fueled extended family day-mare.
Maybe Adam was being dramatic.
David got up eventually, and Adam got up with him. They showered together; David, perhaps sensing Adam’s changed mood, let him hog the hot water. Adam got dressed and went home, his shift at the Emporium not starting until well after David had to be at school. He sat at his computer and pecked at the colorwork article for a little while and then went to lie on his bed and stare at the ceiling.
He was being dramatic. David would come back after Christmas, and they’d pick up where they left off, and December wouldn’t have been a total waste. Right?
But just once he’d like a birthday that didn’t feel like it belonged to everyone else.
Adam went to work. The Emporium was busy all day, customers delusional enough to think they could still make something by hand for a Christmas gift in the next few days. What the staff referred to as “Gift Card Season” started on the twenty-third: everyone gave up in a panic and bought each other money.
It started to snow while he was at work, coming down at first in fat flurries.
“Is it supposed to last?” someone asked, peering over their shoulder out the window at it.
Adam didn’t know. He hadn’t been paying attention to the news or the weather lately. It wasn’t going to affect him. He could walk to work if he had to, but they were always closed on Christmas, so he hadn’t been thinking about it. They were open again for the big postseason sale on the twenty-sixth, so he had to be there for that, especially as that was when returns started to come in.
He experienced a strong feeling of schadenfreude when it came to people returning Christmas gifts.
He had a text message waiting on his phone from David when he finally checked it at three o’clock.
I hope we can spend a little more time together before I leave tomorrow, it read, as if rubbing salt in the wound were a fun activity.
Sure, Adam replied, despite his sour disposition. What should we do?
I have to pack tonight, David wrote back, but you’re welcome to come over later.
It was definitely a booty call. Adam couldn’t quite decide if he was annoyed about that. David was hot. The sex they had was hot. He was enjoying himself. And yet, being summoned for a late-night encounter didn’t feel great, especially not when Adam was determined to be cranky about it.
Until six when the Emporium closed, he stewed in the feeling of disappointment over something he wanted anyway and then went home. David hadn’t texted again by the time he’d finished eating dinner, so when Kevin, Adam’s college roommate and guaranteed Christmas-night dinner date, invited him out for a drink, Adam accepted.
Kevin and Rachel were both there at the bar, which they’d picked as their own after graduating and leaving the even more dive-y bar near campus behind, as well as two other former classmates, Sandeep and Marie.
“How’s thirty-three looking from here?” Kevin asked, pulling Adam into half a hug.
“Dire,” Adam said and ordered a beer.
“No, thirty-three’s not bad,” said Sandeep, who was almost exactly six months older than Adam. “Not much worse or better than thirty-two.”
“It’s the Jesus year,” Marie said knowingly.
“Does that mean I have to peak?” Adam asked. “I’m not ready to peak. I feel like I’ve barely started climbing.” The waitress put his beer down in front of him, and Adam took a long drink.
“You always feel like that at your birthday,” Kevin accused. “You still coming over for dinner on Sunday?” An atheist caught between his Jewish partner and his Scrooge of a friend, Kevin was careful to never name the offending holiday.
“Yeah, of course,” Adam said. “What else would I be doing?”
“We’re looking forward to having you,” Rachel put in, leaning over Kevin. “You could bring that new man of yours.”
“Okay, A,” Adam said, holding up one finger, “how’d you know, and B, he’s not available.”
“You’ve been impossible to reach all month,” Kevin said. “Worse than usual. Also it’s been on your social media that you’ve been doing holiday activities, and literally no one but a new boyfriend would be able to get you out of your house in December for anything fun.”
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Adam said firmly. “But he has been trying to convince me of the merits of Christmas.”
“Is it working?”
“Definitely not. My birthday is going to suck no matter what.”
Rachel made an exaggerated offended face, widening her eyes and frowning. Adam rolled his eyes.
“Except for dinner, obviously.”
“Do you need a cake?” Sandeep asked. “Kevin, you should get him a cake.”
“That’s a good idea,” Kevin said. “I’m sorry we haven’t gotten you a cake before.”
Adam’s pocket buzzed, and he fished his phone out to find a text from David.
Sick of packing, it read.
He thought about not responding. He wasn’t a plaything to be summoned on a whim.
“Who’s that?” Rachel asked. “Is that your man?”
“Yes,” Adam said.
“What’s he saying?”
“He wants me to come over.”
Kevin raised both eyebrows at him.
“He’s leaving for Philly tomorrow.”
Kevin made a shooing motion with his beer bottle.
“I don’t think I’ll go over there,” A
dam said. “I’m with you guys right now. I’ll see him tomorrow before he goes.” A lie, but his friends didn’t need to know that. It was none of their business anyway.
Kevin’s expression was one of extreme skepticism, but he didn’t press.
I’m not going to make it over tonight, sorry, Adam wrote back. There was a pit in his stomach he didn’t care to examine too closely. He was entitled to his time, he thought, pressing Send. He wasn’t at David’s beck and call. They’d only known each other in a more than the most superficial capacity since the beginning of the month. Kevin, Rachel, Sandeep, and Marie, on the other hand—he’d known them almost fifteen years now.
His phone pinged again, and David’s response was a simple, Oh, OK. Adam started to put his phone away, but then a few messages popped up in succession.
I’m afraid I won’t be able to say goodbye before I leave tomorrow.
Maybe we can swing a quick lunch?
I’ll be back on the 29th, either way.
There was a pause, long enough that Adam felt compelled to respond.
I’ll let you know, he wrote.
He put his phone back in his pocket, and if it buzzed again, he ignored it.
IT WAS still snowing when Adam left the bar later that night, the wind blowing harder now, the snowflakes pinpricks of cold against his face. Adam hurried to his car, scarf pulled up around his nose and mouth, and had to run the engine for a few minutes with the windshield wipers running to clear off the snow that had accumulated. If this continued, it would be several inches deep by morning.
When he got home, he pulled out his phone again and saw a message from David.
Can I call you when you get home?
It was nearly eleven; at this hour it was unlikely that David would want to talk on the phone, so Adam could say yes and not have to follow through.
David called him almost as soon as he responded.