Like Breathing

by Tia Fielding

  When Leaf trailed off, Seth knew it was about his need of privacy. He didn’t want to have to socialize with people with similar pasts to his own. It just wasn’t something he could handle well.

  It was different when he met up with people on his travels, but Seth didn’t think Leaf could handle the strain of the reminder in his day-to-day life. Personally, Seth thought that was part of why Leaf and Rain did so well separately despite their relationship being so close.

  “Wanna fool around?” Leaf asked, reaching a hand down to cup Seth’s asscheek.

  He chuckled. “I suppose I could be persuaded.”

  Making love with Leaf felt like breathing. Neither of them had to think about it—they just followed each other’s cues, and sense memory filled in the rest.

  The taste of Leaf’s skin felt like home to Seth. Sometimes, when he’d had a rough day, just a kiss or even a hug with the chance to inhale Leaf’s scent could make all the difference. With how sensual Leaf was, despite all his occasionally crude language, Seth often wondered how they managed the times apart as well as they did.

  They made out for a while, just groping and tasting each other. Then Seth pulled away and turned on the bed into a sixty-nine position. He couldn’t give Leaf a blowjob, but he could do other things, and he knew Leaf loved to give him oral despite almost never getting it himself.

  Reciprocation was an important factor when it came to sex. Once, he’d felt wrong about letting Leaf do this for him, without ever getting the same in return. He’d gotten over it, mostly. Maybe he thought like Leaf was getting the short straw, but since he didn’t complain, Seth could let go of his rules and his control sometimes.

  He took hold of Leaf’s cock, enjoying the weight of it in his hand. Leaf was well-endowed; not massive but still bigger than average. To find someone who could give him oral and not choke wasn’t easy, and from what Leaf—and Dev—had told him, their new third could manage just fine.

  Seth groaned when Leaf licked at his cockhead. The way Leaf cupped his balls and tugged at them a bit roughly made Seth grunt, and he was pretty sure his cock dribbled into Leaf’s mouth.

  He nuzzled Leaf’s groin, enjoying the concentrated scent. He knew exactly where to touch Leaf to get him off fast, but he didn’t want to do that right then. Instead, he settled in, his head resting on Leaf’s thigh as he licked and suckled on his balls, somehow managing to keep his weird issues in check.

  Then again, his gag reflex seemed to only reach to anything too far in his mouth, and the texture of semen was one of the worst things for him. He hated that, because he would’ve loved to be able to do it all, but he just couldn’t.

  So he used his mouth in other ways, jerking Leaf off leisurely while enjoying the blowjob he was getting at the same time.

  When Leaf doubled up his efforts, he nibbled at Leaf’s foreskin, gently tugging it with his teeth, knowing it would bring his partner closer to the edge. He could tell Leaf was getting close, so he squeezed the tip of his cock and pressed the edge of his thumbnail against Leaf’s slit.

  Leaf moaned out loud and seemed to forget everything he was doing for a few seconds, but the vibration around Seth’s cock from that moan made him join in the sounds.

  “Fuck, so close,” Seth panted.

  He tugged on Leaf’s cock faster, sucked one of his balls into his mouth, and made sure to aim his cock away from his face. He pulled at the sac with some firm suction, and the cock in his hand erupted. Leaf’s whole body twitched a bit, and Seth grinned. He loved when he could make Leaf do that.

  As soon as he could, Leaf went right back to sucking Seth, who flopped onto his back and just enjoyed the fast-as-hell ride to the edge. His orgasm punched out of him, making him curl up around Leaf’s head as he nearly jackknifed, and then fell right back onto the bed.

  “That was so good,” he murmured when he had enough breath to do so.

  “Mhmm….” Leaf grunted, then chuckled as he pulled Seth into a sleeping position again. “I’ma go clean up. Be right back.”

  They never kissed after Leaf had blown Seth, because of his issues. Seth could also get queasy while touching cooling come, but at least that was extremely rare. It still made Leaf clean up fast after sex every time.

  Frowning a bit at himself, Seth settled in and waited for Leaf to come back.

  He reached for his phone from the bedside table and smiled when he discovered a good-night message from Dev.

  “That our boy?” Leaf asked as he climbed back under the covers.

  “Uh-huh.” Seth sent him a message back from both of them. “He says good night and to dream about him.”

  “That won’t be a problem.” Leaf chuckled.

  “That’s what I told him,” Seth admitted and put the phone away.

  They kissed good night and cuddled into their usual sleeping position, with Leaf as the big spoon and Seth the little one. They’d drift apart in the night when they got too warm, but starting like this offered the warmth of security to him.

  “Night, honey.”

  “Night, sweetheart.”

  Chapter Nine

  LEAF FLIPPED the pieces of chicken and burgers on the grill as Seth and Dev played with the dogs in the back of the yard.

  “They’re adorable together,” Rainbow said, smiling as she handed him a bottle of his favorite beer, one from her neighborhood brewery in LA.

  “They really are. Thanks.” He took a sip as he closed the lid of the fancy grill Seth had bought them in the beginning of the barbecue season.

  “I can see how he complements both of you. He’s a good find.” Rain tilted her head as Dev leaned over to give Missy some love.

  “Are you checking out my boyfriend’s ass, sister mine?”

  “It is one fine ass,” she said thoughtfully, then made a grabbing motion with her free hand. “Plenty to go around for all of us.”

  Leaf chuckled and took another pull from his bottle. He’d never share with his sister even if his partner—or partners, as it might be—would’ve been game. There had been enough of that sort of shit in their childhood.

  Dev straightened his back again and said something to Seth, who was sitting in one of the lawn chairs, then jogged to the porch with Missy on his heels. “Did you get the cooler out yet?” he asked Leaf, while coming close, right into his bubble, as if he belonged there.

  Leaf pulled him closer and nuzzled his neck. “No. Thought you were going to do it. It’s by the island.”

  “Nnngh, can you not in front of your sister?” Dev managed to say, then kissed him on the cheek and dodged a grope from Rain on his way inside.

  Leaf hadn’t really thought he needed Rainbow’s acceptance of Dev as much as he had. Rain and Dev had been in the same house for all of an hour, and they were thick as thieves already.

  With how well Seth and Rainbow had always mixed, Leaf thought his family even more complete. He hoped it would last, because he hadn’t experienced this sort of ease in a while. He knew it would diminish a little when Rain went on her merry way again, but for the time being he’d enjoy it fully.

  THEY ATE their weight in salad and whichever protein they happened to prefer and then went to clean up the kitchen together.

  Rain and Leaf were filling in the dishwasher when Dev came in from the pantry, carrying the large cake box he’d brought in when he’d come over.

  “Seth, can you find us plates and stuff?” Dev smirked at them all as he placed the box on the island and raised the top off.

  “Oh my God,” Rain moaned in a way Leaf never, ever wanted to hear his sister moan.

  “This, my dear friends, is my special Death by Chocolate cake.” Dev made a distinct ta-da gesture, and even Seth seemed to swoon a little at the cake.

  Leaf shook his head, made sure the rest of the dishes went where they should while Rain abandoned the task at hand and made googly eyes at a mound of chocolate.

  To be honest, the cake did look awesome, and Dev cut them all big slices.

  “The rest i
s for munchies, just so you know,” Dev, the baker extraordinaire said, grinning.

  As soon as Rain had taken the first bite, she let out that god-awful sound again, making Leaf wince. This time Seth and Dev both noticed and burst out laughing.

  “You need to keep him,” Rain said, then peered at them all in confusion. “What?”

  Seth took a bite, closed his eyes, and made a sound that curled Leaf’s toes and had Dev almost dropping his plate.

  Rain, on the other hand, blushed hard. “Oh,” she said, realizing Seth was teasing her. “Oops?”

  Seth laughed out loud, then winked at Dev. “This is good cake, just not quite that good.”

  Dev rolled his eyes, but his smile was fond, and Leaf might’ve had a sappy look on his face as he watched them.

  They took their plates to the backyard and settled around the fire pit in the lounge chairs. The evening was getting darker, and while it wouldn’t be cold, the fire would certainly be appreciated.

  The dogs all lounged nearby, Grace and Missy next to each other and Husky a bit farther away. Leaf knew they were keeping an eye on all the entrances to the yard. He smiled at them fondly and took a bite of the cake.

  His eyes widened. He wasn’t big on chocolate or cake, but this one was pretty perfect.

  “This is so good,” he murmured at Dev, who sat on his left.

  Dev ducked his head. “Thanks.”

  “I like that it’s moist and not too sweet. Is there chili in this?” Leaf tried to pinpoint the extra flavor.

  “Yeah, enhances the taste, doesn’t it? It’s an Aztec thing, chili in chocolate.”

  “Oh, I’ve heard of that,” Rain said, nodding. “I’ve had chocolate in chili, but not the other way around and sweet. This cake is to die for, Dev.”

  “Devin’s Food Cake?” Seth smirked, making all the rest of them groan.

  “You’re over your quota of dad jokes for tonight, just so you know,” Dev said, pointing his fork at Seth.

  Once the first round of cake had been consumed, Leaf set out to light the fire and Seth went inside to get their stash. He brought out the kit Rain kept in her stuff in the guest room dresser as well.

  “Aww, thank you, Seth.” She smiled at him, taking out her own little bottle-green pipe. It had been made for her by an ex, a glass blower, and she liked to keep it there for these special occasions.

  Leaf poked at the little fire and realized they needed more wood. Before he had time to get up from his kneeling position by the pit, Dev came to him with an armful of logs from the lean-to behind the garage.

  “Here, thought you’d need these,” he said, putting the wood next to the fire pit.

  “I do, thank you,” Leaf replied and squeezed Dev’s thigh, enjoying the muscles he could feel under his jeans.

  Dev smiled and went to sit. He accepted a joint from Seth and took a drag, humming contently as he flopped back in his seat. A few seconds later, he let the smoke out, then made another happy sound.

  “Good stuff?” Rain grinned at him while lighting her pipe.

  “Really good stuff.”

  Seth rolled a fatter blunt for himself and Leaf to share, like always, then put their kit in its old cookie tin down next to his chair.

  Leaf couldn’t wait to see what Dev would be like when he got high. Seth had two modes: he got either incredibly introspective or giggly. Either way, it changed to lazy horniness at some point. Rain usually got relaxed and melancholic, then went to bed early but woke up happy.

  Leaf himself, well, he was definitely on board with the horniness. He didn’t care for weed in general. Not enough to indulge often. But in good company, he still did occasionally. It didn’t affect him much, at least not the stuff they normally got. He knew there were strains that might’ve affected him differently, but he didn’t like smoking enough to figure one out for himself.

  When Leaf finally went to sit in his chair between Dev and Seth, Dev and Rain were discussing something California related.

  Seth took a hit from their joint and handed it over. Leaf smoked for a bit, taking shallow pulls of the smoke so as not to overwhelm himself. He didn’t want a coughing fit, which could easily happen for whatever reason. Eventually he took a longer hit, then handed the joint back to Seth.

  “So where did you guys meet?” Dev asked, turning to Seth and Leaf. “I mean, I know you and Rain were in California, and Seth’s from Texas, but how did you end up bumping into each other twice?”

  Leaf chuckled.

  “I was a young, impressionable Texan studying art history at Stanford,” Seth started in a dramatic tone. “One night, when I was twenty-one, I was at this sports bar just because I didn’t really want to hang out with my roommates. This gorgeous older guy came to chat me up.”

  “Long story short, there was a bit of an… encounter in the bathroom of that sports bar,” Leaf continued.

  Rain chuckled. She’d heard the story before.

  “It wasn’t just sex,” Seth said, suddenly more seriously. “If it had been just that, I wouldn’t have….”

  “Yeah, I know, sweetheart.” Leaf reached over to hold Seth’s hand.

  “So you do the thing in the bathroom, go on your separate ways? Then what?” Dev asked. He lounged on his chair in a casually sexy way, smoking his joint absentmindedly.

  “Five years goes by. I kept thinking about him a lot, but we didn’t exchange any information. Not even last names,” Seth said.

  “I thought of him more than I’d ever thought about anyone. It bugged me so much that I couldn’t get him out of my head. It had just been a random hookup, after all. It made no sense to me,” Leaf confessed to Dev, as the others knew this already.

  “I was visiting some family near Houston. My cousin was big on the rescue scene, and she’d heard about this puppy-mill bust happening in the next county over. They were going to bring some dogs over to the local shelter, and she wanted to help. She needed a ride to the shelter in town—her husband had their car or something.” Seth stopped to take a hit off the joint and handed it to Leaf. “Anyway, I give her the ride, and as I wait for her while she’s inside asking if they need her, this beat-up truck with an even more beat-up trailer attached drives into the parking lot.”

  “Jesus, those were horrible, unsafe things. I could’ve afforded better,” Leaf mused. “It’s just that I never quite got to buying anything better. I did dream of an RV, though.”

  Which made him even happier to now have one.

  Dev listened intently, seeming fascinated by the story.

  “Yeah, so I wait there, look at the truck, and wonder how it stays together. Then this guy hops out of the truck and goes around it. There was something familiar about him, but I couldn’t place it. Not until he turns around and looks at me.”

  “The rest, as they say, is history,” Leaf concluded like they had several times before when they told their story to their closest friends.

  “Aww,” Dev said, looking adorable with a little pout on his full lips.

  “I’m gonna go get another beer from inside. Anyone else need anything?” Leaf asked, giving the blunt back to Seth and getting up.

  “Yeah, I’ll take a beer, thanks,” Seth said.

  “How about a soda? Alcohol and weed don’t mix well for me.” Dev frowned a bit.

  Leaf nodded. “Coming right up.”

  “I’m gonna come in and pee,” Rain announced, then followed him inside.

  While she went into the bathroom, Leaf rummaged in the kitchen and the cooler they’d brought back in, and found the drinks. He grabbed the two different beers and a Coke, then walked to the back door.

  The sight in the backyard stopped him dead. He stood by the windows as Seth laughed and moved to sit on the same lounge chair with Dev. They faced each other, knees knocking, until Dev stuck his joint between his lips, grabbed Seth by the knees, and pulled him closer, leaving Seth’s thighs on top of his own. Then he wrapped one arm around Seth’s waist for balance, and smirked. Seth threw his head
back and laughed, all the while holding on to Dev’s shoulder with his free hand, his blunt in the other one.

  Leaf couldn’t hear what they were saying despite the open door, but he knew the beginnings of some very sexy shotgunning when he saw it.

  Dev took a hit, then leaned toward Seth. Both men tilted their head in the opposite direction, as if they were going to kiss. Instead of doing that, Dev blew the smoke into Seth’s open mouth.

  Leaf could see the mesmerized expression on Dev’s face as Seth enjoyed the smoke, then blew it lazily out to the side. Yeah, Seth was and had always been incredibly appealing to Leaf. When he got all pliant after smoking for a while, he became sinfully sexy in a way he almost never was when sober.

  They’d had a couple of casual threesomes before, but those had been just for one night of sex and were never right in the way Dev had from the very beginning. Maybe it was another side effect of getting older, especially with the stuff that they’d all been through. They had learned to take things at face value, and if he was completely honest, he thought the universe might have owed them the good stuff.

  Seth took a hit, then transferred the smoke into Dev’s mouth.

  They were so fucking beautiful. Leaf could feel his heart constrict in his chest. How in the fuck had he ended up this lucky? Maybe it was karma rewarding him for all the shit in his past.

  Rain stopped by his elbow and hummed. “Jesus, they’re hot.”

  “I’m gonna call Seth’s therapist for a referral tomorrow.”

  The words surprised them both.

  Instead of making a joke, Rain nodded deliberately. “Good for you, brother mine.”

  “With the three of us, whenever I die, Seth won’t be alone,” he said, again not knowing where the thought had bubbled up from. Damned weed.

  “Or one of them could get hit by a bus tomorrow. We don’t know these things, Leaf. You know what I always say.”

  Leaf huffed. “Grab happiness by the balls when you have it.”