Second Time Around

by Max Hudson

  Hero nodded. “Yeah. What do you want?”

  “I’d give it a try. See what happened.” Bowie had this hopeful look on his face that nearly melted Hero’s heart.

  The dancer nodded. “We can do that.” He pulled Bowie in for a deep embrace, sitting comfortably and becoming closer as moments passed by. The silence fell over them again, letting them simply bask in the shared presence of the past as it washed over them. The titillating possibilities for a future were dancing in the dim light of the apartment as they both fell asleep in each other’s arms; all the troubles of the world had completely faded away. And that was something that he found perfect in every way. Even if the thought of it being perfect was terrifying to him still, at least a little bit, well maybe not as much as he thought it would be. He just sighed happily and gave in to the tender moment.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Bowie woke up with a crick in his neck. Hero and he had fallen asleep on the couch sitting up and holding each other. He groaned as he shifted.

  It woke up Hero who immediately let out a pained groan.

  “Are you okay?”

  Hero blinked more life into his eyes. “I don’t know.”

  “Damn it.” Bowie got up. He was still in decent shape. “I’m sorry. This is my fault. I should have gotten up and gone to bed.”

  “No, it’s fine.” Hero’s body cracked and creaked as he slowly got to his feet. It was obvious that he was feeling it.

  Bowie frowned. “What can we do?”

  “Not much. Uh, maybe a hot bath?” Hero was thinking hard, and it was clear he was having issues thinking straight.

  Bowie got himself moving, hoping to make the man feel a lot better. He went into the bathroom. The tub wasn’t a large one, but he quickly started filling it with hot water. And then he remembered that he didn’t have a stopper. He hadn’t needed one. He was a shower guy. He cursed and shoved a washcloth down into the drain, hoping that would be enough to keep the water in the tub.

  He cursed himself. “I’ve got the bath warming up.” He called out.

  He could hear Hero slowly moving toward the bathroom and in a few moments, the man was naked and settling into the hot water.

  “You want some pain meds or something?”

  “Just some ibuprofen if you have it.”

  “I think I have some.” Bowie nodded and rushed out of the bathroom. He was feeling sore too, but he wasn’t nearly as bad as Hero. He knew that Hero’s body had taken a lot of stress from his job. Bowie felt a rush of guilt rush over him. They were supposed to do things that day, but he felt that Hero feeling better was more important than that. He would deal with the tire later, on his own if he had to.

  By the time he got back into the bathroom, the dancer had already had to put some more hot water into the tub. “How’s it going?”

  “Better. Not as bad as it was when I first woke up.”

  “That’s good.” Bowie passed over a bottle of water and a couple of pills. “How are you feeling about going out later?”

  “I’ll probably just be a little sore today, but I’ll be fine. You don’t need to freak out over it.” Hero laughed.

  “I mean, I saw you move earlier. It’s normal to be worried.”

  “It’s just a bad morning. This is why I know my retirement is happening.”

  “Not right now, though? I didn’t do something bad by letting you fall asleep on my couch, did I?”

  Hero laughed. “If that was all it took, I would have already been in a pretty sad state, wouldn’t I have?”

  “Maybe, yeah. I’m sorry. I was just worried about you.”

  “It’s sweet that you worry, but I’m just a little sore. It’s nothing I can’t deal with.”

  “I know. I know. It’s just something that I can’t help but worry about. You say that you can feel it coming. I don’t want to be the cause of it.”

  “I know you don’t.” Hero smiled as he took the pill.

  Bowie stepped out of the room. “I guess I’m gonna go get dressed. I’ll leave you to it.”

  “Sure, sounds good.” Hero nodded. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”

  Bowie shifted to the other room. He realized how much it had bothered him to see Hero in pain. It shouldn’t have bothered him so badly, but it did. Or maybe it should have bothered him. He had these deep feelings for this man. And after the mistakes that had been made it seemed like they had only deepened.

  Maybe that was the way it was meant to be. Maybe he was meant to worry so much about Hero. Maybe it was because he wanted to take care of the man. Maybe that was a perfectly normal thing. No, he knew that it was a perfectly normal thing when you cared about someone, but he hadn’t realized that he cared about Hero that much yet.

  He drew in a deep breath, trying to steady his nerves. He knew that he was acting like an idiot and needed to stop doing that. It wouldn’t impress Hero if he kept acting like a lovesick fool over the man. He was more mature than that. He could do this without fussing over the man.

  The chastisement must have taken longer than he thought because he heard the voice from behind him. “What’s on your mind?”

  Bowie jumped, wheeling around with his pants half on. He had paused partway through the process to think. It didn’t end well, with him landing right on his butt.

  Hero moved over to help him up. “Sorry, I didn’t think I would startle you that badly.”

  “It’s fine.” Bowie got up and dusted himself off. “You just surprised me a little.”

  “You were just kind of stopped there staring off into space.”

  “Sorry, was thinking.”

  “Do you do a lot of thinking with your pants half off?”

  “I’m a songwriter, thoughts hit me at odd times.” Bowie tried to play it off. He had things that needed to be said, but there would be better times to say it then. “Even when I’m putting on my pants.”

  “And when that happens you have to stop what you’re doing?”

  “And dissect the thought, yeah.” Bowie nodded and then finished pulling his pants on. “It’s just how it works.”

  Hero laughed. “It’s kind of cute.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. I think it’s just a kind of neat thing about you.”

  “Did you just call me neat?” Bowie scoffed.

  “I probably could have picked a better word.” The dancer smirked, moving over to sit on the bed and watch Bowie get dressed.

  Bowie was painfully aware that he had an audience. He considered making it more of a show but quickly realized that he would only make a fool of himself. He decided to just dress normally, or as normally as his nerves would allow.

  Hero had a soft smile on his face as he watched the singer dress.

  “What’s with that smile?”

  “Just enjoying the view.”

  “Are you flirting with me?”

  “Maybe.” Hero smiled at him. It was a smile that just caught Bowie right in the gut, making him stop in his tracks again.

  “Maybe I should start bringing an overnight bag with me when I go to these meetings. I spend a lot of nights over here.”

  “Just two.”

  “But it’s looking like I’m going to be spending more of them, right?” Hero had a hopeful look on his face. “I mean, if it’s not worth driving across town after the meeting, you wouldn’t mind, would you?”

  “Not at all.” Bowie shook his head. “I would love to have you around.” There it was. He didn’t outright say that he still loved Hero, but he had come pretty damn close. He had said that word. And he worried that it might have been some kind of mistake. “I enjoy having you here.”

  “Good, because I like being here.”

  Bowie smiled and shook his head. “You’re already turning into something impossible, aren’t you?”

  “I probably won’t flirt like this all the time, but I’m happy right now.”

  “Happy about us figuring everything out?”

  “Yeah.” Hero nodded.
“It’s a good spot to be in.”

  “Yeah, it is.” Bowie moved over to the bed after having pulled on his pants and sat down next to the man.

  Hero hadn’t bothered dressing after he got out of the bath. He had dried off and come into the room naked as the day he was born. The singer couldn’t help but appreciate the dancer’s form, his body was toned, muscles perfectly cultivated for strength without being bulky. It was a beautiful body, one that caught him off guard. He couldn’t help but feel his own body start to react to the sight of it.

  Bowie shifted so that the man couldn’t see him awkwardly adjust himself in his jeans. The singer knew that a blush was starting to form on his cheeks.

  Hero laughed and pulled Bowie toward him. They shared another kiss, and Bowie was lost again, stuck at the moment as Hero started to pull his clothes back off. They were falling into the bed again, heated moments leading one to the other. They were not waiting, rushing once the moment struck.

  Hot hands roamed widely over the flesh of both men. They couldn’t stop, couldn’t resist more and more, falling back onto the bed and rolling around as they kissed. “Are you sure you’re feeling up to this?” Bowie couldn’t ask until he came up for air. His voice was breathless and needy. He wanted everything all over again.

  He didn’t know just how badly he needed Hero’s touch until that moment. He craved it. It was a heady feeling that he couldn’t deny. He touched the man next to him, running his hands over the hot skin of the dancer. He couldn’t resist. Couldn’t stop himself from touching and feeling.

  They had things that they needed to do that day, but that was going to have to wait until they quenched the raging lust that echoed between them. “I want you so bad right now.” Hero responded to him, only a few heartbeats between Bowie’s words and the dancer’s words. But it felt longer, somehow. Like they had always been in that moment. Like it had gone on forever. Like it was going to last forever.

  He groaned, feeling around to Hero’s muscular back. The motion pulled the dancer closer.

  Hero reached over his body, picking up the lube from the nightstand. The singer shivered.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. Just wasn’t expecting this.”

  “Why not?” Hero smirked at the man.

  “Because you were barely moving this morning.”

  “I said it wouldn’t last long.”

  Bowie moaned as Hero’s body pressed against his harder. He spent the moment grinding himself against his partner. The need was palpable, something that neither of them could deny even if they wanted to.

  More moans. It was hard to tell who they were from; they were both ready and raring to go at a moment’s notice.

  And that moment was giving notice right there. They needed more and rolled into position, Bowie bending over so that the other man could line up his slippery shaft. The singer couldn’t tell who needed this moment more as they came together in a smooth thrust, two bodies becoming a beautiful single.

  He felt the dancer’s body move with a heady sort of grace, powerful and strong. The singer reached down between his legs to stroke his shaft as the bodies moved together, fitting together, perfectly, as if they were one person. It was perfection, something that couldn’t be repeated as they rode the waves of undeniable desire for each other.

  It was a moment that would live on a shelf for the rest of eternity, love that washed over that moment, a confession on his lips that kept threatening to come out. He wasn’t sure if it was the right time to say it, but as the waves of ecstasy washed over him, he didn’t think it was such a terrible idea. “I think I’m still in love with you.” Bowie groaned the words, communicating exactly how he felt right then.

  There was a pause. Hero stopped moving.

  Bowie felt his heart jump into his throat. He had spoken too early, said the wrong thing at the wrong time. He had ruined everything. He started to pull away, but the hands-on his hips held him in place.

  Bowie turned to look at the man behind him. The man had an odd look on his face. He couldn’t quite figure out what the man was thinking. And that terrified him.

  Finally, Hero found the words to say. “I love you too.”

  That was it. It was as simple as those few words. It made Bowie’s heart skip a beat. He was in love with this man. And Hero was in love with him too. And that was all that he needed to know to be insanely happy.

  They started to move again, pushing further toward that edge. They needed each other.

  The explosive climax that they shared was unbelievably powerful, bringing them even closer together. They couldn’t fight it, and neither of them wanted to anymore. They were ready to be together and now that they were older, maybe they were more capable of handling it.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Hero paced the floor of his apartment. Bowie had gone to meet with his band to practice. He knew that the man was supposed to tell his band that they had gotten together and the singer had been afraid of how it would end up.

  He sighed. Pacing wasn’t doing any good at all. It wasn’t going to change anything about what was going to happen.

  Hero couldn’t identify what his worst fear was in this situation. He shook his head. What mattered was how Bowie took the frustrations of his band, and whether or not they convinced him that this was a bad idea and that he needed to leave. He sighed heavily and forced himself to sit back down.

  “Stop it, Hero. It doesn’t matter. If it’s real, it’s real. And it’s all going to turn out. You know this.” He was talking to himself. There was no one else around.

  The sounds of silence seemed to grow louder as he waited. His nerves were causing sweat to form on the palms of his hand, even though the air conditioning was on full blast and he hadn’t tried to turn it down yet. That took far too much thought about the current temperature of the room, and his mind was fully focused elsewhere. He was worried about what was going on with Bowie. Even if the singer had said that there was nothing to worry about. He would just be a little embarrassed and his friends would accept it, even if they did tease him a bit for it.

  But his mind couldn’t stop focusing on all the worst possibilities. It was a tiny bit of hell on his mindscape, playing with his emotions. He hated feeling that strongly. It was something that hovered between horrifying and amazing, without ever settling on one side or the other.

  He brushed his hair back from his face.

  Bowie would be there soon. He had been worried for a few hours, and the conversation couldn’t possibly take much longer than this. There was no way. Unless he was getting ghosted.

  There was no way that Bowie would ghost him. He wouldn’t do that. The man was better than that. Bowie was a good man and he knew it. He was just thinking about the worst possibilities.

  The knock took him by surprise. He had been too stuck in all of the wrong ideas.

  Hero jumped up and nearly tripped over himself in the rush to check the peephole. “Who is it?”

  “It’s me.” Bowie’s voice. It was Bowie’s voice. And he was smiling. Hero could see that through the peephole.

  “How did it go?” Hero rushed to open the door up and let the other man in.

  Bowie moved inside the building quickly. “It went fine. They weren’t surprised.” He laughed.

  Hero smiled. “So, they’re not wanting you to break up with me?”

  “I wouldn’t if they had wanted me to do that.”

  “I just hoped I wasn’t the cause of your band breaking up.”

  “Nah, we’re better than that. You’re worrying over nothing.” Bowie shook his head. “They teased me a little bit.”

  “Good. I was a little worried.” Hero breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m a little ashamed of being so worried about it.”

  “Don’t be. You were worried about me.”

  “About us.” Hero shrugged, trying to play it off.

  Bowie laughed loudly. “About us, I guess.”

  “Yeah.” Hero nodded. “I guess I was just being s
illy.”

  “You were being in love. I’d worry the same. Have you told your friends yet? That you’re back with an old ex?”

  “Yeah, they’re all happy for me.”

  “Good. I’m happy for you too.” Bowie grinned at him.

  “You are?” Hero cocked an eyebrow. He still had a smirk on his face as he asked the question.

  “Mhm, you’ve got yourself a boyfriend. And that’s pretty amazing.” Bowie stepped forward.

  Hero embraced his lover. “Yeah, it is pretty amazing. You’ve got yourself one too.”

  “I know, how could we both be so impossibly lucky?”

  “I have no idea.” Hero’s smile grew. The worry just melted away when Bowie held him like that. “Being in love is a pretty cool thing.”

  “It is, yeah.” The singer was grinning wider and wider as the game continued between them. He leaned in to kiss the dancer.

  Hero felt his breath catch in his throat. The kiss held the same passion they had held every single time he had felt the press of Bowie’s lips. There was something that felt like pure magic in them. He couldn’t resist pulling himself closer to this man that he had loved years ago and had started to love once again.

  “What do you want to do?”

  “Well, we’re going to put on this show. And it’s going to be amazing. And you’re going to wow everyone.”

  “They’re going to be there for your music.”

  “They are, yeah, but they’re also going to get a good sight of you. We have to practice tonight, make sure everything is together.”

  “Yeah, we’ll be there.”

  Bowie laughed. “If I stick around, I’m afraid I might never leave.”

  “What makes you think that?” Hero grinned at him.

  “You know how hard it is to let go of you?” Bowie hadn’t let go of him yet.

  Hero breathed in, letting himself feel the embrace for a second. “Probably about as hard as it is to let go of you?”

  “Mmm, I bet.” Bowie kissed Hero. The dancer melted into the kiss. It just felt like a little piece of heaven that they were sharing.