Second Time Around

by Max Hudson

  As Bowie pulled away Hero pulled him back.

  Another kiss, the heat permeating the entire room. The place had been cold before, but now it was scorching hot.

  He sighed. “I really need to go. We’ve got to go start planning the stage set up.”

  “Do you need me to come too?”

  “I think you need to take your guys and get them a feeling of the stage. We’re going to be discussing things with the bosses. We may not see each other much.”

  Hero nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.”

  Bowie grinned at his partner. “What are you so worked up about? Anything I can help with?”

  “No, I was just here and worrying.”

  “If I had known you were that worried, I would have called or texted.”

  “You didn’t have to do that.” The man shook his head. “I was just being ridiculous. You know how it is, thinking about the worst ways everything could turn out to be.”

  Bowie laughed. “I know, but I tried to be clear that it wasn’t going to turn out badly. They would just tease me a bit.”

  “How badly did they tease you?”

  Bowie’s smile was uncontrollably strong. “Just a little bit about me being a hopeless romantic.”

  “Which is true.”

  “It is very true. And I’m pretty happy that it’s true anyway.”

  Hero felt his smile grow. The singer’s smile was contagious, it caught him and he couldn’t stop smiling when this man was around. It just made him happy. Even when they had been fighting, this smile probably could have fixed it all had they known to give it a try. “You are?”

  Bowie’s voice took on a teasing quality, happy, and full of life. “Yeah, damn happy.”

  “It’s a really good place to be, I think. I didn’t think anything would come from us bumping into each other in the hallways.”

  Bowie laughed. “It was worth bumping into each other.”

  Hero nodded. “We should get started. There’s a lot to do. Why did you even drive back out here?”

  Bowie’s eyes were glittering. “Because I wanted to see you before we went and spent time apart.”

  “I appreciate it, but we shouldn’t get too distracted.”

  “No, we shouldn’t.” But Bowie didn’t pull away.

  Hero didn’t pull away either. It was a moment that they couldn’t deny. The kiss was long and pure, demanding every second that it took and more after it ended. Neither of them wanted to pull away.

  It took far too long to separate. More kisses were being shared. “I really need to go.” Bowie groaned.

  “So do I.” Hero sighed.

  “We have to make ourselves do it.” The singer admitted.

  “Yeah, I guess we do.” Hero frowned. “But I really don’t want to.”

  “I know, I don’t either. It’s so hard to say goodbye. We’ve already had to do it once today.”

  Hero smiled. “Can we just focus on getting to say hello again soon?”

  “Tonight, maybe? Bring an overnight bag and you won’t have to drive back out here.”

  “I can do that.” Hero felt a little giddy as he said the words. It was a little silly to feel that way, but there was something about the singer that brought him some joy that he hadn’t known in a long time.

  Epilogue

  Bowie watched Hero dance from the distance. It was going to be one of his last performances before the dancer finally retired, giving up the spotlight for good. He would go into a new line of work.

  He was there, trying to hide his presence in the crowd. The big event that had brought them back together had been a raging success, leading the singer to a decent measure of success nationwide. It meant that they were making much better money, and with Hero retiring, the man was going to be joining them on tour. When the tour was over, they were going to be setting up a dance studio so he could teach young dancers the art he loved so much.

  The show ended right on time. And the curtain call went smoothly. It was announced as being Hero’s last performance before his retirement and the audience shared another round of applause for him. Bowie joined the clapping.

  Then he made his way backstage, to the dressing room that Hero was assigned to. He let himself into the room.

  Hero smiled at him as he massaged his sore muscles. “You just couldn’t wait to come back here, could you?”

  “No, I couldn’t. How are you feeling?”

  “I’m doing all right.” Hero shrugged. “It’s a little bittersweet.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure it is.” Bowie came to kneel on the floor before Hero, helping massage the legs.

  Hero groaned in pleasure, enjoying the feeling of his lover’s hands on his body as much as he enjoyed the pain relief from the motions. “That feels good.”

  “It’s the least I can do right now.” Bowie smiled up at him.

  “You don’t have to do those things.” Hero shook his head. “Not that I want you to stop.”

  “I’m not going to stop. You don’t have to be polite about it. I like doing this for you.”

  “I’m really lucky that I found you.”

  “I could say the same.” Bowie pulled his hands away from Hero’s legs.

  Hero groaned in disappointment. “Something wrong?”

  “Just getting some ointment for you.” Bowie got up and walked over to the vanity in the small dressing room.

  “That would probably be good.” Hero nodded.

  Bowie grinned to himself. He was getting away with this. It was going to work. It had to work. They had been together for a while now and the dancer must have known that this was coming. Maybe not right now, but eventually.

  He reached into his pocket while he was over there and turned back around to face Hero.

  “You can’t find it?”

  “No, can you help me?” Bowie called out and turned back to the vanity, shuffling the small box in his hand under a couple of papers. He was trying to be slick about it, but he didn’t know how well he was pulling off his plan.

  Hero sighed and got up, walking over to the vanity and checking in the drawers. “Huh, it’s not here.”

  “I noticed that too.” Bowie nodded.

  Then the moment hit. Hero reached for the papers on the desk. Bowie felt time start to slow down. Everything stopped for a heartbeat then inched ahead as Hero shifted the papers. “What’s this?”

  Bowie just shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  Hero picked up the small box. His hands were shaking. The dancer looked over at Bowie.

  Bowie couldn’t keep the smile off of his face. “Why don’t you open it up?”

  “Is this what I think it is?”

  “That depends on what you think it is.” Bowie shrugged again. He was trying to play it cool, but that was an incredibly hard thing to do.

  Hero opened up the box and stared at what was inside it. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure.” Bowie nodded and dropped down to one knee.

  “Is this happening?”

  “Yeah, it’s happening. Hero Raptis, would you do me the honor of becoming my husband?”

  Hero’s hands shook more. He was shifting his gaze between the box in his hands and the man kneeling in front of him.

  Bowie felt his breath catch in his throat. “Will you marry me?”

  “Y-yeah, I mean, yes. Yes, I’ll marry you.” Reality dawned on the dancer slowly.

  Bowie rose to his feet and embraced his lover. And the kiss was one that seemed to stretch on to eternity. It felt perfect, a moment shared that quickly turned into impossible levels of passion.

  Bowie felt his jacket being pushed off of his shoulders. He knew what was going to happen. They were going to end up being late getting out of the theatre.

  The heat in the room started to rise, both of them sending off waves of need and desire. “We shouldn’t do this here,” Bowie mumbled the words against his new fiancé’s lips.

  “Probably not.” Hero agreed, but he didn’t pull away.

&
nbsp; Bowie didn’t pull away either, pressing himself against his lover, the need starting to rise to unmanageable levels.

  “We’re going to get married.” Hero’s voice was breathless.

  “Yeah, we are.” Bowie agreed again, starting to work his hands over his lover’s back.

  The knock pulled them out of their heated moment. Both of them suddenly being forced right back into reality.

  Slowly they parted and tried to straighten out their clothes. “What is it?” Hero called out.

  Agnes opened the door and stuck her head into the building. “Hey, just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing.” Her eyes flicked between them.

  “Yeah, everything’s fine.” Hero nodded, looking a little shy.

  “What’s going on here?” She smirked. “You two seem to be happy.”

  “I just asked him to marry me,” Bowie smirked.

  “And the mussed hair is just a celebration?” She smirked.

  “Something like that, yeah.” Bowie grinned at her.

  “Then I’ll leave you to it, but Hero’s got a few more people that want to say goodbye to him, so you may want to be more discreet.”

  “We’ll try.” Bowie nodded.

  There wasn’t much chance to get back into it as more and more people came to give the dancer gifts and happy goodbyes. Plans were made to meet up for drinks or meals in the future. Phone numbers were double-checked. Tears were shed.

  And Bowie stood there by his side. He stood there, staying strong for the man he loved more than life itself. It was the only thing that he could do. The right thing, just be there with him. Stay strong and powerful at the moment for this man he loved and planned to take along with him on the tour. They would catch a plane that night to go back and meet up with the band and be swept off to the future.

  But those plans would have to wait until this night was over. It was a difficult moment for Hero, leaving the stage behind. The singer knew that. He wrapped his arm around Hero’s shoulder as he spoke to his fiancé, sitting back and letting the dancer take all of the spotlight. Hero deserved it.

  The singer just watched as a bittersweet ending was opening the door to a brand-new future. He could tell that Hero was a little worried about how it was all going to end.