Four

by Tia Fielding

  “No, not at all. Seems like he’s more careful now. But he would’ve heard about Kaos being in town, and that might’ve been it. Hell, he might’ve known one of my old friends was visiting too. Who knows?”

  Francis hummed thoughtfully but said nothing.

  “Do you have more appointments?” Kaos asked Padraig.

  “Yeah, I have one coming in soon. It’s a cat, so you three might want to head out.” Padraig grinned and went to pet Hestia. “You be good, okay.”

  “Was she fine here?”

  “Oh yes. I put her in a carrier in my office when I had a client earlier. Otherwise we’ve been doing paperwork. She helped.” Padraig’s expression was so comical, Kaos started to laugh.

  “Did she really?” Francis looked amused as well.

  Padraig grunted. “Let’s say that I don’t need to buy a shredder anytime soon and leave it at that.”

  Chapter Twelve

  WHEN PADRAIG looked at their Thanksgiving feast, he felt oddly choked up. There was no turkey, but there were other things, something for everyone and then some. The only truly traditional things on the counter were the three different kinds of pies the others had insisted on.

  “Come on and make a plate and eat before you get called away again,” Kaos encouraged him with a smile.

  “Yeah, okay.” Then Padraig remembered his manners. “But you made the food with Francis, so—”

  “No buts. You make a plate, follow Francis to the table, and I’ll grab mine after you. It’s not like there’s not enough for everyone. I just want you to get some grub in case you get a call. You got to eat on Thanksgiving, Padraig.”

  “Yeah, Paddy. You’re obligated to feel stuffed today. Better get to it.”

  Shaking his head, Padraig put some mac and cheese, salad, chicken curry, and a few other things on his plate.

  “I love how none of this goes together,” Kaos said as he oversaw the proceedings.

  Padraig smiled. “I was just thinking the same.”

  “Your sister would have a heart attack!”

  “Nah, she’d be fine. But since Dad lives there, she has to do the whole traditional thing. She’s not quite as stiff as you think, Fran.”

  “Really?”

  They talked about family traditions over dinner, all of them getting a bit misty-eyed over their mother’s or grandmother’s cooking and holiday habits.

  “One year, I was maybe twelve or something, the old oven we had finally broke. But it didn’t just fizzle out—it burned our turkey to a crisp in half the time it was supposed to cook,” Kaos was saying, just as Padraig’s phone rang.

  “Excuse me,” he said, wiping his mouth, and went to answer to it in the office.

  It was just another dog having stolen some food and the owner wanted to know if it was going to be okay. Once he’d given her instructions on how to deal with the situation, he ended the call on a good note and went back to finish his dinner.

  He got two more similar calls during the evening, which didn’t surprise him at all. Lots of food and people, and the pets were able to slip through unnoticed and steal some of the goodies.

  He called Mary and talked with her and his dad for a few moments before Dad wanted to get back to watching the game.

  All in all, it was very nice and a new sort of normal, even. Padraig felt a rush of joy when Kaos snuck into the kitchen much later just to get some more pie to go with his evening tea. Francis had one too many glasses of wine and fell asleep on the couch with Hestia at his feet.

  When Padraig and Kaos took Hestia out for the last time and then went upstairs with her in tow, something felt different suddenly. Maybe it was the warmth of Thanksgiving, or the fact that while they’d all decided to skip the habit of going around and saying what they were thankful for that year, he and Kaos had made eye contact that caused Francis to cough loudly and pointedly.

  In any case, when they got up the stairs, Padraig found himself against the wall with Kaos right in his bubble.

  “Tell me this is okay?” Kaos whispered, close enough that his breath tickled Padraig’s lips.

  He wasn’t sure what he was agreeing to, but it felt natural to nod and then open his mouth for Kaos’s tongue when he pressed even closer.

  Padraig held his hands to his sides at first but then carefully wrapped his fingers around Kaos’s narrow hips, pulling him against himself. Feeling Kaos’s dick against his own made him groan, but also tense just a little.

  Kaos leaned away and looked at him. “We’re not ready yet,” he stated, licking his lips.

  “No, we’re not,” Padraig had to agree. It felt right, it did, but something was still holding him back.

  Kaos kissed him gently and stroked his bristly cheek with his fingers. “Good night.”

  “Night.”

  Padraig watched as Kaos and Hestia made their way down the hall to Kaos’s room, willing his body to calm down. There would be time. He was sure of it.

  FRANCIS LEFT two days after Thanksgiving, on Saturday afternoon. He seemed determined to figure out how to get out of the situation at work and refused to hide anymore.

  Padraig wasn’t sure what had brought on that change, but something had, and if it helped him to buckle down and get things sorted, he was all for it.

  Francis said he’d call as soon as he had news, and left with a promise to come back soon.

  “I think he might come back sooner than we think,” Kaos said thoughtfully as they listened to Francis’s car drive off.

  “What makes you think that?”

  They went to sit in the living room. Technically Padraig was working, but he’d come home to see Francis off and had his phone with him. Athena was holding down the fort at the clinic.

  “There’s something…,” Kaos started and thought for a moment. “He wants out of NJ. I think he’ll come here at least for a while.”

  “We have room,” Padraig said practically, making Kaos chuckle.

  “Yes, exactly. I told him that, and that we would like to have him here if he needed a place.”

  “Good.”

  A WEEK after Thanksgiving, Francis called and told them that he wouldn’t be working at the maternity clinic anymore. He asked if the offer for a room at their house was still open, and Padraig promised that it was.

  Francis said he was organizing things, looking into registering as a nurse in Wisconsin, and figuring out what to do with a lifetime of stuff. He’d call when he was ready to make the drive with a U-Haul, and not to worry.

  Padraig and Kaos still worried, especially without any specifics on what was going on. They decided together that they wouldn’t bother Francis, just because they knew he’d call if he needed them. Adding to his stress, which must already be sky-high, was out of question.

  IN THE next couple of weeks, Padraig sensed that Kaos was starting to feel even more at home in Acker. He went to work on alternate days with Padraig, because he still didn’t have his license but wanted to be around the studio, and because that way Hestia didn’t have to stay at their jobs yet.

  They spent time together in the evenings, talking about random things, watching TV, or just getting to know each other. Hell, there was a mildly drunken game of Never Have I Ever one evening after Padraig came home after losing a patient.

  They had fun. So, so much fun. Sometimes it still surprised Padraig that he could feel that way again. He had more dreams of Marcus, too, but nothing as vivid as that one where he’d said goodbye. That, Padraig had decided, could well have been Marcus’s spirit moving on, while the dreams he was having now were Padraig’s own thoughts, his imagination.

  PADRAIG WAS there when LaKeisha called Kaos one evening to tell him that she was fine, that her parents were handling her coming out better, and that her brother had set the girl he’d been dating free after a serious talking to from Lake and some of their friends.

  Kaos had looked relieved, and Padraig could understand. The way he worried about Francis was very similar, after all.

&nbs
p; On one Sunday, they were out in the backyard, playing with Hestia in the snow. It had snowed a lot, and they’d made her a winding path she could run on—something Kaos had seen on YouTube. She loved it when one of them went to each end of the path and they called her back and forth. Her other favorite game was trying to find a ball in the smaller snow banks. She would dig and dig until only her tail peeked out of the white stuff. And of course, her indulgent human parents would stand there, laughing at her.

  That day, Hestia managed to lose her ball in a spot where it shouldn’t have been possible to lose it. Kaos went to try to help her, and Padraig took a video of their antics from the porch nearby.

  Kaos had bought himself a purple winter jacket, a white knitted beanie and scarf, and a pair of more sturdy gloves because of all the snow he touched while playing with Hestia. He looked beautiful as usual, but when he and Hestia played in the snow, that clenching feeling in Padraig’s chest—and his stomach—got more intense for some reason.

  “Oh my God, dog!” Kaos screamed when Hestia tackled him into the snow and rushed to lick his face. Kaos laughed and laughed, and Hestia grabbed his beanie and made him shriek, and Padraig supervised helplessly, feeling himself tear up a little in the face of such pure joy. “You heathen! I can’t find your ball—don’t take it out on my hat!”

  Hestia let go of said beanie and dug again next to Kaos, spraying him with snow. Kaos laughed in clear delight, flopped on his back, and made a snow angel.

  That was the moment Padraig knew he was in love again after four years of believing he never could be.

  “What are you smiling at? Come save me from the clutches of the evil beastie!” Kaos called out to him, and Padraig finally remembered to stop filming and put his phone into a zippered pocket. He went down the porch steps and whistled at Hestia, who stopped her digging and bounded up to him.

  “Are you being a pest, girlie?” he cooed, marveling how much more hefty her bulk was already, even though she had only been with them for a few weeks.

  “She has massive paws, have you noticed?” Kaos asked from his spot in the snow.

  “Yeah, she’s going to be as big as her momma, I think. If not as tall as her dad. At least she’s been pretty easy to train so far.” Padraig pointed at the snow where she’d just been digging. “Go find your ball. Where’s your ball, Hestia?”

  She dove right into the fluffy white snow, making her humans laugh.

  “A little help here?” Kaos held his hands out, obviously not wanting to destroy the snow angel he’d made.

  Padraig grabbed his hands, waited until he was mostly balanced, and tugged. Kaos made that squeaking sound again and collided with Padraig’s chest, like he’d planned.

  Padraig looked at him from the very close distance. “Hi there.”

  “Hi,” Kaos whispered, and the flush on his cheeks could’ve been from the cold air, but maybe Padraig wished it was a blush instead.

  They moved into the kiss in unison, cold lips opening and hot tongues touching. A wave of something traveled through Padraig’s body, and he let go of Kaos’s hands to grab his hip and cup the back of his head with his other hand. Kaos made a needy little sound and pressed closer, grabbing Padraig’s jacket as much as he could with his gloved hands.

  Kaos pulled his head back enough to pant out, “Do you think we’re ready now?” before diving back into the kiss.

  Padraig nodded without taking his lips off Kaos’s. A loud puppy bark next to them made them separate, and they both turned to look at Hestia, who sat next to their feet with her ball at her side.

  “You found it! Good girl!” Kaos said, grabbing the ball. “Let’s go inside. You get something to gnaw, and we get some alone time, okay?”

  In short order, they went inside through the utility room, cleaned paws, and took off boots and winter clothing.

  Padraig couldn’t bring himself to look at Kaos, feeling shy or something. He busied himself with making sure Hestia would have something not too smelly to gnaw on and then led the way upstairs.

  “Where are we putting her?” Kaos looked at Padraig, clearly letting him lead.

  “I was thinking put her in mine, and we can go to your room?” Padraig tensed slightly, hoping Kaos would understand.

  Kaos just nodded. “Of course.”

  Maybe Padraig should’ve known Kaos was on the same wavelength by now, but somehow he hadn’t been sure. Feeling relieved, he deposited Hestia on the rug by the bed, gave her the treats, and patted her. “You be good now. We’ll get you in a bit.”

  Hestia seemed more interested in her Nylabone than her humans and didn’t even react when Padraig closed the door.

  Bracing himself, he turned around and saw Kaos at the other end of the upstairs hallway, by his own bedroom door. Kaos smiled at him hesitantly, as if wondering if he’d follow through with their unspoken plan. Unable to bear the expression on Kaos’s face, Padraig walked to him briskly and crowded him against the door.

  “I wasn’t sure I’d ever want someone like this again,” he blurted out.

  Something difficult flashed in Kaos’s expression, but then he smiled and said, “Me neither.”

  It wasn’t the time to think about why someone Kaos’s age would feel like that, so Padraig abandoned the thought in lieu of kissing Kaos.

  They scrambled through the door, the feeling of “holy shit, we’re really doing this” pounding through Padraig’s whole body.

  He was hard before they got across Kaos’s room and to the bed, and when they stopped there, chests heaving and disbelieving smiles on their face, they started to laugh as one.

  “Fuck, okay,” Kaos said, then pulled his knit sweater over his head and tossed it aside. “Get undressed, Padraig.”

  Padraig stared for a moment as new skin was exposed to his gaze with every bit of clothing Kaos took off. Some of the clothes were feminine, like the strappy top thing, whatever it was called, and the—holy shit, Kaos was wearing panties.

  “I… uh… are they too much?” Kaos asked, looking like he wanted to hide himself from Padraig’s view.

  “N-no, no, Kaos. Not at all. I….” Then, because it was literally the only thing he could come up with, he said, “Holy fuck, that’s hot.”

  Kaos looked at him for two beats, then burst out laughing. Padraig, on the other hand, continued to stare while struggling to get out of his own clothes. Eventually he stood there in his boxer briefs, and Kaos quieted down.

  “I love the contrast between the color and your skin tone,” Padraig said, reaching out to trace the edge of the lace at the waist of the panties. He could see Kaos was at least half hard, but somehow there was room in the underwear still. “Are these specially made for men?” Padraig asked, then realized how that might’ve sounded. “I mean, people with penises. Sorry.”

  Kaos smiled at him. “Yeah, they’re made so that there’s room where it’s needed. I don’t mind being called a man. It fits some days—you know that.” Kaos lifted a hand to trail his long, slender fingers down Padraig’s arm. Somehow that one touch was more erotic than any of the kisses they’d shared so far.

  “I know, but with what you’re wearing, I thought it doesn’t fit today, right?” Padraig looked into Kaos’s eyes and saw fondness, as if Padraig was doing something special right then.

  “No, it doesn’t fit today,” Kaos murmured, then slid a hand to Padraig’s hair and pulled him down into a scorching kiss.

  Somehow they managed to lose balance and tumble down on Kaos’s bed, which, blessedly, was right behind Kaos. At the last moment, Padraig planted a hand on the bed, and only half his weight crushed Kaos, who let out an oof before smiling at him.

  “Sorry!”

  “It’s fine. I wasn’t being careful either. Let’s just….” Kaos gestured toward the pillows, and Padraig shifted his weight enough for Kaos to move, then went after him.

  Soon they were settled side by side on Kaos’s mass of pillows, looking at each other from a close distance. It felt weird how the urge
ncy and lust seemed to come and go in waves, like a ripple in a pond. Every time it settled, one of them threw a pebble in, and the connection between them sparked.

  “We didn’t talk about this yet,” Kaos said quietly, grasping for Padraig’s hands.

  “No, no we didn’t.”

  “I don’t even know if we’re compatible.” Kaos’s eyes widened suddenly. “Not that I mean I want to go that far yet.”

  “Me neither. So it’s good that we’re talking now, I guess.” Padraig couldn’t resist the urge to lift his free hand and play with the shoulder strap of Kaos’s top. The color, a deep yet vibrant blue, matched his skin color so well.

  “Hey, eyes up here,” Kaos said playfully, making him grin.

  “I like to switch.” Padraig kept his voice quiet for some reason. “Or used to. I…. What about you?”

  “I haven’t topped much, but I like it. There just wasn’t chance much, before.” The darkness in Kaos’s eyes as he obviously remembered his abusive ex made Padraig’s heart ache.

  “Good, can’t wait,” he said, making Kaos’s expression clear and turn heated.

  “But today, I just want to touch you.”

  “Yea—oomph!” And then Padraig was being kissed with vigor that left him reeling, in the best possible way.

  He let Kaos take the reins, and once Kaos was on top of him, he spread his legs to get him even closer.

  The little broken sound Kaos made as he shifted so that their cocks aligned was good enough that Padraig felt a throb in his balls.

  “Take this off?” he asked between kisses, tugging at the silky top.

  “Yeah,” Kaos breathed, and straightened his back to pull the thing over his head.

  The expanse of skin uncovered was too lovely not to feel, so Padraig lifted his hands to touch Kaos. There were no hairs on his chest, but Padraig hadn’t expected any. He ran one hand down from Kaos’s collarbone to his flat belly and up again, then looked into his eyes to ask for permission when his hand was back near Kaos’s nipples.