Spring Fling

by Sean Ashcroft

  “So that means you have a ton of time to spend with me,” Spencer said, as though no other option existed.

  Jesse laughed at that. He loved that Spencer wanted him, all the time. Not just for sex, but for his presence.

  Under other circumstances, it might have been too intense. But between them, it was just right.

  “I guess it does, yeah.” Jesse grinned. After two weeks of really, genuinely being apart other than a few text conversations and seeing each other across campus, he missed Spencer. He missed Spencer a lot.

  They had a whole lot of catching up to do.

  “Then I have to go meet with a student, but I’ll see you at my place later. You should bring over some clothes to keep there,” Spencer said, standing. Jesse still had a few of Spencer’s shirts in his own wardrobe.

  “I would be really into that,” Jesse said.

  “Good. Because I’m keeping you until at least the other side of the weekend.” Spencer bent down to kiss Jesse’s cheek as he grabbed his bag.

  Jesse watched him go, already fantasizing about getting to spend the whole weekend with Spencer.

  They’d been through a lot over the past few months, but it had all been worth it in the end. Jesse couldn’t ever remember being this happy before, this sure that his life was heading in the right direction.

  He had everything he wanted, and all he’d needed to do was find the courage to go after it.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Not that I have any problem with you making me dinner, but this has to be a special occasion or you wouldn’t bother,” Jesse said as Spencer ushered him into the kitchen, taking his coat on the way through.

  Spencer had news to tell Jesse, and a question to ask him. It was a special occasion. But Jesse didn’t know that yet.

  Besides, it didn’t have to be a special occasion. They hadn’t been able to see each other as much as Spencer would have liked lately. He wanted to do something nice for Jesse. Jesse was always doing nice little things for him.

  “Can’t a man make dinner for his gorgeous boyfriend, just because?” Spencer asked.

  “Well, I can make dinner for you just because, but you don’t cook. Up until now, I thought you were kind of proud of that.”

  Spencer shrugged. “Maybe it’s not just because. Maybe I have some really exciting news to share with you.”

  Jesse raised an eyebrow. “That does sound more like it. Couldn’t you just, y’know, tell me, though? We could order a pizza.”

  “Are you suggesting that my cooking isn’t going to be very good? Because I might be a secret culinary genius.”

  “I’m not saying that!” Jesse defended. “I just don’t want you going to any trouble for me.”

  “Over the course of our relationship, you’ve gone to a ton of trouble for me,” Spencer said. “Dinner is a very small thing to do. Besides. I can cook, I just choose not to.”

  He’d actually been practicing all week in preparation for tonight, but he was pretty happy with what he’d managed to come up with. It wasn’t anything complicated—a nice lasagna made by following a recipe very closely—but he was proud of the effort.

  Besides, Jesse regularly made him amazing meals with what looked like zero effort. He wanted to be the one cooking this time.

  “Okay,” Jesse said, sitting down at the table. Spencer went to the oven to check on dinner, his stomach suddenly full of butterflies.

  “So, I’ve been approached by a publisher about writing a book, and I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you before, but I wasn’t allowed and I was so afraid it was going to fall through,” he said in a rush, having to pause to take a breath.

  “A book, seriously?” Jesse asked. “That’s awesome! I didn’t even know you wrote.”

  “Well, I kind of don’t. This is a science book, about deep space physics. Apparently I could be the next Carl Sagan or Brian Cox.” Spencer blushed. He’d appreciated the comparison. Especially since he’d always had a secret crush on Brian Cox.

  “You totally could. You’re very cute. You’re gonna look great on the inside of the cover and I’m gonna lose you under a pile of fan mail,” Jesse said, though he sounded enthusiastic. Proud, even.

  Spencer wanted Jesse to be proud of him. Especially since they’d spent so much time at the beginning of their relationship having to be together in secret. He’d been afraid, just a tiny bit, that Jesse wouldn’t be as interested in him once they could be open about it.

  That hadn’t happened at all.

  “I doubt you’ll lose me under a pile of fan mail. Especially because most fan mail is sent by email these days.” Spencer opened the oven, deciding that the cheese on the lasagna was just the right amount of crispy now.

  “Still, though, that’s super cool. My boyfriend’s gonna be an author.”

  Spencer grinned. He loved it when Jesse called him his boyfriend. It was so good to finally have someone in his life that had his back like Jesse did.

  “The working title is The Particles at the End of the Universe,” Spencer said. He knew Jesse would love that, and he wasn’t disappointed when he looked up to see him grinning.

  “Oh, that is awesome. Maybe when you’re done you can be the next Douglas Adams, too.”

  “I don’t think I’m funny enough for that, but I appreciate the compliment.” Spencer dished out dinner, making sure Jesse had a corner piece. There was way too much for two people to eat in one sitting, but Spencer figured he could freeze the rest.

  Now that he’d kind of, almost, gotten the hang of home cooking, he wanted to do it a little more often. He could totally learn to cook ahead of time and freeze things. He could be all kinds of domestic.

  Which lead him to the next thing he wanted to say. It was a whole lot scarier than the first.

  “So, uh,” Spencer said as he sat down. “I was, umm, thinking. My lease here is up soon, and I could probably get an extension if I wanted, I guess, but I was hoping that maybe… we could get a place of our own? Together?”

  Jesse looked up at him, swallowing his first mouthful. He hadn’t complained about the food, which Spencer took as a good sign. Or at least, that Jesse loved him enough not to complain about his cooking.

  It was probably the latter.

  “Are you asking me to move in with you?”

  “Well, I’m kind of asking if we could both move into the same place. Maybe somewhere a little more convenient for both of us?”

  “Dude, you don’t have to sell it.” Jesse grinned. “I would love to move in with you.”

  “Really?” Spencer asked.

  “Really.” Jesse’s smile turned soft and fond. “I love you. I want to spend more time with you, and you’ve been so busy lately and I’ve missed you. I think it’s an awesome idea.”

  Spencer breathed a sigh of relief. He’d been so worried that Jesse might say he wasn’t ready, or that it was too much of a hassle to move.

  He’d missed Jesse, too. Now that they were working in different places with different schedules, it was hard to find time to be together. Moving into the same place would solve that.

  Besides, it significantly increased the opportunities for morning sex, which Jesse seemed to like almost as much as Spencer did.

  “I’ve missed you, too,” Spencer said, finally relaxing enough to start eating.

  “This lasagna is actually pretty good,” Jesse said. “And I’m not just saying that because I love you.”

  “Well, asking you to move in with me was a ploy to get you to cook for me more often, but I guess I could make it again sometime.”

  Jesse chuckled, smiling down at the table. “So you’re saying you can be domesticated.”

  Spencer shrugged. “Maybe. Like a cat can be domesticated, I think. I’ll live in your house, but I’m just as likely to sit on your laptop as I am to do something useful.”

  Jesse laughed out loud this time. “But you’ll keep me warm at night, which is what I want most.”

  “I’ll keep you warm on the nights
I’m not up staring at the stars, anyway.”

  “I’ll come stare at the stars with you.” Jesse shrugged. “You’re not getting out of keeping me warm.”

  Spencer grinned at that. He was more than happy to keep Jesse warm, whenever he wanted.

  Epilogue

  First day of spring semester, 3 years later...

  Jesse woke to Spencer’s cock pressing against his ass, and smiled to himself. They’d been living together for almost three years, and they still both woke up hard for each other pretty much every morning. They didn’t always have time for sex, but this morning was a special occasion.

  Jesse rolled over to face Spencer, smiling as he saw his eyes flutter open. “Good morning, Mr. Tenured Professor.”

  Spencer blushed straight away. Jesse loved how easy it was to make him blush.

  Today was Spencer’s first day of teaching since he made tenure. In Jesse’s mind, that made it his first day as a full professor.

  Jesse was so proud of him he felt as if his heart was going to burst with it. They’d both been through so much to get here, both been unsure they were making the right decisions—to be together, to stay together—for so long. Now that it was all a distant memory, Jesse was so glad he’d stayed. So glad he’d taken the risk of giving up the crutch of teaching to do what he really wanted.

  His career was exactly where he wanted it to be, too. Not as glamourous as Spencer’s, but exactly what he wanted to do. He was out in the field almost six months of the year now, and the other six months were either in the lab or at home. It was everything he’d dreamed of when he’d been starting college.

  Well, everything and more. He hadn’t thought he’d find someone to share it with, someone who—though their fields were different—shared his love for science and his need to know things.

  Spencer was still the best thing that had ever happened to him.

  Jesse reached out to touch Spencer’s arm, trailing his fingertips along it. Spencer had a great habit of sleeping naked, one that Jesse had done everything he could to encourage.

  “I can't be late,” Spencer said. “Not on the first day of semester.”

  “I'm not gonna make you late.” Jesse smiled slowly. “But I am gonna make you come.”

  Spencer laughed, watching as Jesse trailed his fingers further down, leaving his arm and ghosting them over his belly. Jesse loved every inch of Spencer's body, and by now he knew every freckle, every hair, every crease and line. In the last few years, Spencer seemed to have settled into himself a little better. They were both over 30 now, as grown up as they were ever going to be, and Spencer, at least, was all the more beautiful for it.

  Spencer gasped as Jesse reached his cock, moaning as Jesse wrapped his fingers around the length. Jesse chuckled. He loved this, the feeling of being able to turn Spencer on and get him off.

  “I should make tenure more often,” Spencer said, his voice catching as Jesse stroked him.

  “I can do this for you more often,” Jesse murmured, leaning closer to catch Spencer’s lips. He kept the kiss light, not wanting to leave Spencer bruised and ruffled for his first day.

  Well, he wanted to, but he knew Spencer wouldn’t be thrilled about it. He never had paid Spencer back for that hickey, though…

  “I'm just teasing,” Spencer smiled, wiggling closer to Jesse. “You do this for me all the time.”

  Jesse would have argued that he didn't do this, specifically, but he got what Spencer meant. Their sex life had never really suffered from a downswing.

  Jesse caught his lips again, taking the hint Spencer was giving by moving closer and wrapping his hand around both of their cocks. He had a weakness for doing this with Spencer. He loved the way Spencer’s cock felt in his hand, but he also loved the way it felt against his own cock. This way, he got both.

  Spencer hummed happily, rocking into Jesse’s fist, increasing the friction between them. For someone who didn't want to be late, he sure was getting into it.

  The way Spencer’s cock felt as it slid between his fingers, against the sensitive skin of his own cock, was one of Jesse’s favorite sensations. He loved being inside Spencer, and he really loved a good blowjob—and Spencer never gave anything but a good blowjob—but this simple intimacy made his toes curl.

  Jesse wasn’t going to keep him waiting. Not today. Later tonight, maybe. Spencer would be tired, and pliant, and happy to be fucked to sleep.

  “I know you wanna come,” Jesse murmured. “It's okay. This is for you.”

  Spencer moaned, low and needy, speeding up his thrusts into Jesse’s fist. He'd been holding back before, and Jesse knew it—Spencer practically had a hair trigger in the mornings.

  Sometimes it was fun to make him hold out, see how long Jesse could keep him on edge, moaning and begging before he came, but that wasn’t what this morning was about.

  This morning was about how much Jesse loved Spencer, and how proud of him he was, and how much Spencer deserved a good orgasm before he went back to work after a couple of weeks off.

  Spencer buried his face against Jesse's neck, his breath coming in hot puffs against the damp skin there, making Jesse tingle all over. Sex with Spencer still felt so good, no matter how they did it, no matter how many times they’d done it. It must have been nearly a thousand by now.

  Jesse used his free hand to pull Spencer closer, hug him tight against his chest as he worked both of their cocks, now slick with precome. Jesse’s stomach was already tight, his own orgasm building steadily.

  The sounds Spencer was making—soft, needy caught breaths, strained noises in the back of his throat—told Jesse he was right at the edge, ready to tumble over. He still loved every little needy sound Spencer made.

  What better day to pay him back for that bite all those years ago, when they first met?

  Jesse sunk his teeth into the soft part of Spencer's neck, making him howl in surprise. At the same time, he felt the tell-tale hot rush of fluid against his stomach. Spencer's muscles tightened as he rode the wave of his orgasm, and then he relaxed again. A satisfied sigh signaled that he was completely spent.

  Jesse let him go and worked his own cock eagerly, already close and now painfully turned on. Spencer's hand joined his, the practiced grip all Jesse really needed to come as well, shouting into Spencer’s neck where a bruise was already blooming under the delicate skin.

  He groaned as his orgasm hit him, thrusting hard against Spencer’s stomach, digging his fingers deep into Spencer’s thigh.

  The world went silent for a moment, the white-hot surge of orgasm rendering most of Jesse’s senses useless for a heartbeat or two. He recovered slowly, his breath coming in huge gulps, his lungs burning.

  Three years, and every single time was still as good as the first one.

  Jesse leaned back to admire his handiwork on Spencer's neck. He grinned when he saw it, thrilled to have marked Spencer out as his.

  Spencer had marked him on day one, and he hadn't regretted a moment of it.

  A question Jesse had wanted to ask a dozen times rose in his throat again. It never seemed like the right moment, never seemed like he'd planned hard enough.

  If he told someone the story of their relationship, it might have been easy for that person to get the idea that it had been about grand gestures, big defining moments.

  It wasn't. Not really.

  It had been about a quiet meeting of two people who were perfect for each other, who met at both precisely the wrong, and precisely the right, time. It was about Sunday breakfasts and knowing glances across an office that had never been big enough for two people.

  It had been, Jesse thought, about running into that one other person who was out there for you and letting them turn your life upside down and not regretting a second of it.

  So really, there was no better time than a quiet moment to ask the most important question of their relationship so far.

  “Hey, marry me?” Jesse asked, holding his breath while he waited for an answer.

>   Spencer blinked at him, and then blushed. “I, uh. Yes, of course. Obviously. I didn't think…”

  “I'm ready,” Jesse interrupted as Spencer paused. “I'm ready to be with you until our atoms give up on being us.”

  Jesse still remembered the night under the stars where they’d both known, he thought, that this was forever. He just wanted to make forever a little more official.

  Spencer grinned. “Nerd,” he said, with an almost impossible fondness.

  “Right back atcha.” Jesse couldn't stop smiling. His heart felt so full he was almost afraid it was going to burst out of his chest.

  They were going to live happily ever after, after all.

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