11. Luke

When Luke walked into the Old Boot, everyone else was already there.

Tash and Mitch were sitting at the booth he had come to think of as theirs. Edo was behind the bar, serving, and Lucas and Donna had clearly just arrived as they were at the bar, stabbing at a menu to prove a point.

Edo waved at him, made that gesture with his hand that meant a drink was on its way, so Luke went straight to the booth.

Mitch nodded as he sat down.

Tash sighed, staring out the window, head leaning on her hand.

Mitch snickered, “Love has come. Hook, line and sunk her.”

“That was awful,” said Tash, barely even flicking her gaze over her shoulder at her best friend, “A poor attempt at humour.”

Mitch shrugged at her, “Humorous or not, it’s true.”
“Yeah,” she sighed again, “I guess it is.”

Luke had met Mitch and Tash in his second year at university, in the middle of a booze-soaked night out with the LGBT crowd. The society had been all about hooking up and dancing, of which Luke enjoyed the first half and the first half only, since he had managed to somehow (don’t ask how, because he still had no clue) score a boyfriend in the second semester of first year.

Luke had admittedly been slightly tipsy at the time, happily snogging the living daylights out of his then-boyfriend, when someone stupidly tall had stumbled out of the Union Bar, ridiculously hammered, blind drunk, and tripped over them into their laps.
He had apologised in a surprisingly sober-sounding voice, but had not moved.

Luke and the boyfriend had looked at each other for a little while, stunned, and had been about to push him off and move when this tiny familiar-looking girl had stumbled on the same step the guy had, cursing, wearing heels that seemed to be almost taller than her.

“Shit. Mitch? Mitch!”

The guy in their laps, Mitch apparently, had murmured, “Tash, I think I've reached nirvana,” but hadn't moved from on top of them.

She had walked over to them, astonishing them with her coordination on heels that high, and attempted to pull him up, then hit him when he wouldn’t cooperate.

“Gentlemen,” she had said, flashing them a smile that revealed just how sozzled she was herself, “Give a lady a hand, would you?”

She had then managed to persuade them to pick Mitch up (“I'm flying, Tash, I'm flying!”) and take him back to their student flat. She had also then – well, 'conned them' was a tad strong, really, but it was the right sentiment – collected their phone numbers. A few days later she had called, telling them Mitch was prepared to buy them both a drink in thanks for the safe passage home.
Luke and Tash had then figured out that they knew each other from the society LGBT meetings, where they had nodded at each other, but never spoken. They had all gotten along well and were still very good friends, even if the then-boyfriend was gone. He had graduated and moved to South America and they had broken up on fairly amicable terms, although they hadn’t kept in touch.

Tash looked up when Lucas and Donna sat down at the table.

Donna barely even glanced at her before demanding an explanation, “Ok, what happened?”

Mitch gave a dramatic sigh, “Tash is in lurve.”

Tash, it seemed, had still not grown out of hitting him when she felt it necessary.

When Luke got a call from Tash one weekday evening a couple of days before the holidays, he didn’t think anything of it.

“Mitch is being boring.” She explained.

“Yeah,” he said, “Sure, come round. We can go out for drinks or something.”

She showed up in full going out gear, short dress, hair done up, night-out makeup.

“Err, Tash?”

“Eva.” Was the reply.

“What about her?”

“She is my Sapphic love interest!” Tash exclaimed, a hand on either side of Luke's face, “You have to help me get a date. One date is all I need, then I can show her how amazing I am and how amazingly well we would work together and please Luke!”

Which is how Luke found himself in the Epiphany on a work night, despite an early meeting the next day.

It's very difficult to say no to Tash.

Which was his defence when Edo raised an eyebrow at him and led him into the back to explain himself. After all, Nick was in Italy.

“For Tash. Really?”

“She said Eva is perfect for her, but she didn't want to come on her own and Mitch had something else to do. Tash said he was being boring, so he’s probably working.”

“So here you are. Does Nick know?”

“Yeah, I texted him. He told me Eva didn’t know how to contact Tash.”

“Does Eva know Tash is here?”

“I don't think so, not yet, but Tash will eventually gather up the courage to order a drink off her.”

Edo laughed, “Ah, that’s my girl. All go until the gas runs out.”

“Does Eva like her?”

He shrugged, “Man, who knows what the hell goes through Eva’s mind? Nick or Bo might be able to tell you, but she won’t talk to me about it.”

Luke glanced at the door that lead back out to the club, “Do we need to warn her?”

“I think she'll be ok.”

Edo swaggered, because that seemed to be the default gait Edo had, back over to the door, “Come on, chaval, let us see what’s going on?”

Luke spent most of the night with Edo, watching carefully as Eva and Tash flirted with each other from opposite sides of the bar, both knowing how their friends’ last relationships had died. For the record, Tash’s last relationship? It died a fiery death, spitting fire and brimstone and curses and hate. Tash ended up on Mitch’s sofa for a week, mostly hiding from her ex as said bitch sold their flat, before he gave up trying to get more than sobs out of her and handed her a key, telling her the spare room was hers and the bills were due on the 2^nd of every month. She had never moved out. That was three years ago.

She wanted a girlfriend, Luke knew that. She threw herself headfirst into finding someone to love her, Luke believed she deserved somebody amazing, and had repeatedly failed to find someone suitable.

“Hey, Edo,” he asked, passing his empty glass over to the barman, “Is Tash going to get her heart broken?”

Edo shrugged, glancing over to where the girls were giggling at each other, “I don’t know. Eva doesn’t  throw herself in lightly, but when she does? She gives her all.”

“It could be an explosive breakup.”

Edo handed him a full glass. If Luke didn’t know any better, he would say Edo was trying to get him drunk.

“Or they could be forever.”

Luke stared, “Well, that kind of sappiness is new? What the hell have you been smoking?”

“I didn’t say I approved,” snarked Edo, “Just that is seems to be happening with alarming frequency these days.”

Luke took a sip of his drink, “If you mean me and Nick, then every 6 months is not frequent.”

“Nick and I,” Edo corrected absently, pouring out a double rum and lemonade, “And it’s more frequent than previously.”

“Next thing you know you’ll be part of a couple yourself.”

Edo snorted, “Ha! Never. Why would I take something like me away from the population at large? It would be the singles’ crowd greatest loss since Hugh Hefner got engaged.”

There was nothing Luke could say to that, really.

10. Nick

Parts of the following phone call have been translated for the audience’s convenience. Those who wish for a transcript of the original may contact the author directly and/or leave up-to-date contact details in the comments below. As always, feel free to leave a comment! They’re all read, cherished, and put up on the walls to prove that the audience aren’t just as made-up as Nick and Luke.

The Skype call logo came up on top of the academic paper he was reading, ringing merrily at him.
His parents. He scrambled for the headset.
“Pronto?”

“Nicola? It’s your mother.”

Elisa had given their parents a Skype phone and a year-long subscription, which confused both of his parents a lot less than using a computer. They still had a typewriter in his father’s study.

“Hi, Mamma.” He said, minimising the paper and stopping all his downloads to make the connection less shaky.

“Hello, my love. How are you?”

“Good, I’m doing well. How are you and Dad?”

“We’re ok. Your father’s knees are doing funny things again, but it’s just old age. Are you busy?”

“Never for you, Mamma.” Nick smiled at the screen, forgetting they couldn’t see him, “What’s up?”

“You are coming home for Christmas, aren’t you?”

Nick started playing with the wire connecting him to his laptop, “Yes, of course.”

“And you have tickets?”

“Yes, Mamma. How are Elisa and Irene?”

“They’re doing well. You should call them, I know they would love to hear from you.”
“I’m actually waiting for Elisa to reply to an e-mail. And everyone else?”

“Everyone is well, for now. Nuria, from next door, you remember Nuria, her daughter Antonia is coming down from Turin for the holidays and Gaetano and Daria are visiting your aunt.” (Unspoken: Your cousins, darling.)

“Gaetano is coming back from America?”

“For Christmas and her birthday. Irene is bringing Massimo.” (Your sister, darling.)

“Really? Wow. They must be getting serious.”

“Bello mio, you never talk about girlfriends.” (What about you, darling?)

It doesn’t help, thought Nick, that Italian is a language where even the nouns have been assigned a gender and there is no way to say ‘partner’ without revealing ‘boyfriend’.

“I know, Mamma.”

“But you seem to be happy.”

“I am happy.”

“I just want you to be happy. You know that, right? I’m your mother.”

“I know, Mamma,” he sighed, head in his hands, “I love you.”

“And I love you, bello. When do you arrive?”

“The 22^nd.”

“So late?”

Nick huffed out a laugh, “I’ve got work to do.”

“They work you like slaves. Are they paying you enough for your talents?”

“As much as they can.”

“Good. Do you want to speak to your father?”

“If he wants to.”

She was half-shouting before he had even finished his sentence, “Of course he does, he’s your father – Robert. Robert! Telefono!”

There was a short interlude while his father came to the phone. Here came the language switch into English.

“Pronto?”

“Hey, Dad.”

“Nicola! It’s good to hear from you. How are you?”

“Good, thanks. You?”

“Not too bad. Got tricksy knees, but hey, I’m not as young as I used to be, you now?”

His parents had always done this. Irene called it their hive-mind. They said they were vasi comunicanti, communicating vessels, that they shared everything and in so doing were equals.

The image appealed to Nick’s scientist brain. He wondered if he and Luke would ever get to be so in tune that they told the same stories.

“I know, but you’re still going to live forever.”

An old joke, but Nick secretely hoped it was true. Nobody deserved to live forever more than his parents.

“You bet,” he could picture his father’s smile, “I’ve still got to meet my grandkids, don’t I?”

Nicola smiled at the screen vacantly, text going slightly blurry.

“Right.”

“You coming down for Christmas?”

“Yeah, the 22^nd. Will you pick me up?”

“Of course. And when are you flying back?”

“29^th evening.”

“Ah, we’re spending New Year’s Eve in London, are we?”

There’s an Italian saying that says you spend Christmas with family, but New Year’s Eve with who you want. Nick was sure it had just crossed his Dad’s mind too.

“Got someone special to share it with?”

Nick shrugged, as though his body language would help him sound less guilty.

“Something like that.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” said his Dad, catching the completely wrong end of the stick, “if it’s still unsure. A bit hush-hush, eh? Don’t worry, I won’t tell your mother.”

Nick laughed, “Thanks.”

“Hope they know they’re lucky to have you, though.”

Nick moaned, “Da-ad!”

“Alright, alright. Are you flying with BA?”

“Alitalia,” corrected Nick, “I’ll text you the details the day before.”
“Perfect. Ok, son, get back to work, but don’t work too hard. I know you’re probably staring at a journal of some sort, but there are people in this world who you don’t want to miss meeting. Speaking of which, your mother looks like she’s making tea and I would love a cuppa. Talk soon.”

“Bye, Dad. Love you both.”

“Bye, Nick.”

The click on the other side felt louder than it usually was.

He pulled the headset off and hung his head in his hands.

He hated deceiving them, had never been good at lying, especially to the people he loved, but they just wouldn’t understand. His mother wouldn’t understand.

She wouldn’t stop loving him, no, but she would set him up, tell him it was a phase, try to convince him of feminine wiles and God’s will and hadn’t he tried that? Hadn’t he told himself it was something he would grow out of? Hadn’t he tried to fool himself into it so much that he had gone out with Licia Remoti from school and almost had sex with her at 17, before back out of her bedroom and the relationship, disgusted with himself? He had tried to fall in love with her, tried to be someone he wasn’t for the sake of everyone else, but he was gay and he was alright with that.

He didn’t want to lose his family over this.

He ran a hand through his hair and shut the laptop.

This wasn’t the first time he’d had this conversation with them, but it was getting bad. Irene had been with Massimo for years and marriage was definitely on the horizon. Elisa was a free bird but a serial monogamist, someone who flitted from relationship to relationship quickly but with her whole heart, head first, with all the conviction of someone who knows true love is out there somewhere.

They fit into the three child stereotype quite well.

Irene with her forever man. Elisa with the queue of men waiting for her to dump the latest loser (and they were all losers, he knew). And himself, forever single. Forever pretending to be single.

He got up to make a cup to tea, just like his parents. Some comfort rituals are genetic.

It used to be easier to lie.

Nick sighed as he put the kettle on.

With Richard it hadn’t mattered. He had never wanted to meet Nick’s family. He had said his own family was extremely Christian, that they would disown him, that he loved Nick but couldn’t risk his family and fuck that had resonated, Nick knew exactly what that felt like, Nick had understood.

Turns out, of course, that during any remotely religious holiday his presence as husband and father had been required at home – which also explained why Nick hadn’t been over to Richard’s house very often. It must have been difficult to coordinate that many absences in one go.

He poured the boiling water into his mug.

The whole relationship had been a disaster from beginning to end, even if Nick could only admit that in hindsight.

But Luke?

They had been sitting on the sofa, both working on their own things, and Luke’s parents had Skyped.

Luke smiled, then turned to him, “Do you mind?”

“Not at all. Do you want me to sit at the table?”
“What?” said Luke, “Don’t be silly, stay here.”

“Hi Mum, Dad – meet Nick!”

And Nick froze.

It’s not that he didn’t want to meet Luke’s parents, he did – it was scary how much of Luke he wanted to himself, all of the knowledge he could possibly glean about this astonishing, caring, wonderful man – but it shocked him to think that he was important enough to Luke that he wouldn’t think twice about introducing him to his parents, even if only by Skype.

“Hello!” waved the man who was unmistakeably Luke’s father, “Lovely to meet you.”
“And you, sir.”

“Oh,” said his mother, who was sitting in front of the man, “I like this one, very polite. Hullo, dear.”

Nick gave a dorky little wave that he later felt very embarrassed about.

“Do call us Harry and Juliet, it’s much easier.”

“Luke says you’re a scientist?”

Luke’s mother put a hand on her husband’s arm, “An astrophysicist, dear.”

“Oh, yes. Nick?”

“Yes, sir. I’m doing a doctorate at Imperial College.”

“Luke tells us you’re very brilliant.”

Luke turned a light fuchsia.

“I try, sir. Luke is amazing too.”

“Yes,” said Harry, teasing, “Luke tells us that too.”

“Harry,” Juliet swatted his arm, wearing Luke’s fond-but-exasperated expression, “Honestly.”

“Is our boy treating you right?”

“Better than I deserve, I think.”

Luke squeezed his hand.

“Good, good, excellent. And you, he?”

Nick quirked a smile, “I like to think so, sir.”

Luke kissed his cheek, seeming not to care that it was in front of his parents, “Definitely, Dad.”

Nick went supernova red, “Luke. Parents...”

“That’s ok,” he said, grinning at the webcam, “They know how I feel about you.”

Onscreen, Juliet giggled as Harry kissed her forehead.

They had chatted for another 10, maybe 15 minutes before family news took over.

Luke didn’t ask about Nick’s family at all, obviously waiting for Nick to start that particular conversation.

Well damn.

By the time Nick came back to the present, his tea was stone cold. He had been stirring it the whole time.

He shook his head then stretched, carefully popping his spine.

It was much too early to go to the Epiphany, but he needed to do something.

Time for a workout. Maybe some exercise would clear his head.

Life was glorious, Luke was wonderful, work was good and it all swam by like it was trying to win a race. Apart from the instances it met the frozen current coming from his PhD supervisor.

“What time is your flight on Friday?”

Luke was making dinner as Nick squinted at the latest e-mail, trying to figure out exactly what it was that he was apparently getting so wrong. The previous 3 e-mails contradicted each other.

“Just after 4,” he said, “Why?”

“I was wondering if you needed a ride.”

“Nah, it’s Heathrow, I’ll just Tube it – hang on. You have a car?”
“Yeah. The building has a garage.”

“I didn’t know!”

“Huh,” said Luke, sliding something into a simmering pot, “Must have slipped my mind. I thought I’d told you.”

“I wonder what else slipped your mind – come on, Luke, what else don’t I know?”

“Well,” said Luke, using the knife to make his gestures bigger and attempting a serious face, “I have to admit, apart from my perfectly normal job in marketing, I do a spot of on-demand killing on the side. Not an awful lot, just enough to keep in practise, you understand. I hope that won’t be a problem, dear.” He joked, going back to his veg.

“Seriously, though,” pressed Nick, wondering if he was ever going to get rid of his all-consuming need to know everything, currently focused on knowing about Luke, “I want to know.”
Luke tilted his head at him curiously, “Yeah?”

He gave half a shrug, “I always want to know.”

Luke paused in his chopping again, “Ok. How about we ask one question each, no holds barred, and the other has to reply? Truth.”

Nick could feel the crease in his forehead appearing.

Luke frowned right back at him before comprehension dawned on his face.

“I won’t ask about Richard. I meant what I said – when you’re ready, and not before.”

Nick nodded, “Ok. Let me think. You first?”

Luke bit his lip as he considered his options.

It took Nick a moment to restrain himself into not biting it for him.

“You first.”

Alright. He started fiddling with the reports in a pile on the table in front of him.

“Can I ask about Sofia?”

Luke put the knife down and wiped his hands on a tea towel, “You can ask me anything.”

Nick bit the inside of his cheek and confessed, “I don’t want you to think I’m insecure in this relationship.”

Luke walked round the island slowly.

“That sounds ominous.”

“I’m, well. I guess I’m a little afraid that I’m the rebound guy. You were with Sofia for years – how do you let go of something like that so quickly?”

Luke flopped into the chair opposite Nick, frowning again, this time in concentration. It was the same look he had when he was doing something complicated for work.

“I think Sofia and I were over long before she left. She was right about that. Don’t get me wrong, I felt angry and hurt and betrayed when she went, but I don’t think I was in love with her any more. Together we grew up and grew apart, it’s just…” he waved a hand, making an aborted gesture, “It’s just the way it went. I didn’t miss her. And, much as I’m loathe to admit it, Edo was right. Not rushing things with you meant I got to know you.”

“Not rushing things?” Nick laughed, “We took it slow. Glacially slow. Painfully slow. Blue ball slow.”

“But I rather like where we ended up, don’t you?”

Nick laughed again.

Luke watched him, soft smile on his face. Nick ducked his head. Sometimes Luke would do that, would look at him all fond and loving and awed like he was surprised Nick was still around.

It scared the hell out of him.

“I don’t want you to read anything into this,” he said, which had alarm bells ringing all over the place even as he tried to keep calm, “But have you come out to your family?”

Oh.

He must have pulled a strange sort of face, because Luke goes straight from general concern to worry.

“They wouldn’t hurt you, would they?”

“No, God no, of course not. They just wouldn’t…” he sighs, trying to find the right word, “They wouldn’t understand.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It's ok – sort of. They love me, but they're really conservative, especially my mother. She physically embodies every religious Italian woman stereotype that exists. I think she would try to understand, but it's just not in her concept of love. Men love women and that's just how it is.”

Luke nodded, “And your father?”

“I don't know. We've never talked about it. It really isn't something that was talked about in our house.”

“Do you ever think about coming out to them?”

“Sometimes,” Nick hesitated, “but I don't think it would do any good. I have no intention of getting frog-marched back into the closet by disappointed family. I couldn’t bear the looks on their faces, the betrayed disappointment…”

Luke pulled his chair around close enough that Nick could turn around and bury his face in his neck if he wanted to. He swayed towards him, but he needed Luke to understand before he reached for that comfort.

“I just can’t. Even for you.”

Luke took the decision away from his by wrapping his arms around him.

“It’s ok – it wasn’t for me at all. It was for you.”

Nick made a noise into the hollow of Luke’s throat that he correctly interpreted as curious.

“You light up then dim back down when you talk about them; it’s obvious that you love them, I just wondered if that was why you mostly avoid talking about them and where you come from.”

Did he avoid talking about them?

Nick pulled back to look at Luke properly.

“We’re a family of 5. My parents, Ginevra and Robert, still live in the same house they bought when they got married. I have two younger sisters, Elisa and Irene. Elisa is 23 and she is in her last year at the university of Padova, doing BioMedical Sciences, while Irene, who is 25, has just started a job in Milan with a civil engineering firm. We were born and grew up in the tiniest village in Southern Italy that you've ever seen – only 8 houses all together, all of them old people. Well,” he amended, “Old compared to us. Mostly grandparents, you know?”

“Right.”

“We had to be driven to primary school every morning, when we all went to the same school, but as of secondary school onwards we took buses. The system splits people at various ages into different types of schools. All my friends lived in different villages, some of them even in the same towns as the school, but it was difficult to keep in contact with them. It was ridiculous – it took me 50 minutes to get to class every day. Not like now,” he said, smiling weakly, “where it takes me 20 minutes on the tube and a short walk!”

Luke’s eyes were searching his with an intensity he hadn’t seen before.

“I never wanted to stay in Italy – the university system is really awful. It takes forever to get a degree, because you can choose when to do your exams and people actually put them off so that they're still doing the same degree 6 years after they've started. But the whole system is flawed. I went through the UCAS system for universities here, having set my heart on Imperial, and they were kind enough to give me a place. I never really left London, even doing another Masters in Durham.”

“Another Masters?”

“Yeah,” Nick hugged him again, hiding his face in Luke’s shirt, not wanting to see that expression people wore when they judged his academic side, “I did a Masters in Particles, Strings and Cosmology there and one in straight Physics here before that.”

There was a pause.

Then, “Thank you. For letting me in.”

Nick hugged him tighter.

Luke nuzzled at his hair, “You know I’m not going to leave you, don’t you?”

“What?”

“I’m not going to break up with you because you’re smarter than me, or your friends are weird, or because you’re worried about coming out to your family.”

Nick didn’t really know how to respond to that, so he broke the hug to pull Luke down into a kiss. He didn’t have the words in any language to tell him exactly how grateful he was, but their bodies would figure it out.

9. Edo

Edo thought it was disgusting. Now, hang on a minute, he didn’t have a problem with that kind of lifestyle in theory, but did they really have to go around flaunting it the way they were?

Nick and Luke had been staring into each other’s eyes, kissing in that intimate way that only people who love each other truly can and generally being all PDA and close and freakishly adorable all afternoon.

Couples. Blech.

Tash walked up to him and demanded a drink.

“If I have to watch the two of them mash faces I will want to be smashed myself.”

“White Russian?”

“Unless you can think of something else, yes.”

“’Love Hate’ is really strong,” he said, grabbing a glass and getting started, “but it conveys the right sentiment.”

“It’s not that I don’t love Luke or want them to be happy,” she said, sitting down at the bar, “but do they have to bloody parade their couple-y-ness?”

“I know what you mean.”
“it’s like, congratulations, yes, you’ve found someone who loves you – although I doubt they’ve said that out loud yet – good for you, but the rest of us are still looking for someone who will last more than a date, you know?”

Edo had seen Tash and Eva making eyes at each other at Nick’s birthday party, but wasn’t sure he should say anything.

“I know.”

Tash pulled a face, “It’s just so very in your face.”

Edo handed her the drink, “Love Hate.”

“Thanks,” she took a sip then shuddered at the alcohol content, “Yeah, ok, that’s exactly what I needed.”

Mitch came over, slammed his pint glass down and affirmed, “Barman! Another.”

“Getting to you too, are they?”

“It’s like they’re discovering kissing and holding hands for the first time – it’s all new and exciting and wonderful and they make me want to puke rainbow-coloured kittens.”

Tash shook her head, “Couples!”

“I wonder how long it will take them to realise that we moved to the bar?” Mitch asked.

Edo poured himself a finger of whiskey, “I will drink to that.”
Twenty minutes later, Nick and Luke joined them at the bar, looking sheepish.

They went back to their table after ordering a plate of chips to share from Sam, the bartender and owner of the Old Boot.

Edo smiled at Sam’s raised eyebrow.

“Please?”

“Extra shift tomorrow,” said Sam, taking the tea towel from Edo’s shoulder, “Come in for 8.”

“In the morning?” Edo’s indignant cry melted into an embarrassed, “8 am, tomorrow morning. Thank you, Sam, for the opportunity you’re affording me by keeping me in a job.”

Sam’s grunt was somewhere between  ‘you’re welcome, tosser’, ‘I don’t know why I keep you around’ and ‘go and talk with your friends, you nut’. Edo had become really good at decoding Sam’s various noises. His boss was just older than Edo himself, quiet, with shaggy hair and was the shyest barman to ever tend bar. He wanted to be the sort of bartender that people told their worries to, that the regulars knew by name and greeted with a smile and a handshake, but was just not the talkative type.

Sam and his brother Mark had bought The Old Boot and restored it together. It was cool, Edo thought. The locals, like Jim who-used-to-work-down-the-docks, said that they had tried really hard to keep the same old atmosphere whilst turning it from a run-down “pile of rubble with taps” into this “without selling their souls to Wetherspoons”.

They were both cool people, but Sam’s a bit – Edo didn’t know how to describe it. Quiet would just have to do as an adjective.

Luke had started asking about the girl Mitch had been seeing.

Mitch shrugged, “She’s great, and great in bed – like, scratches on my back, bruises on my hips, stupid grin good – but I don’t think we’re right for each other.”

“Man,” said Edo, flopping into a chair, “I don’t get it. What more do you want?”

Tash gave him a weak punch as she slipped into the booth, opposite Nick, “How about a real relationship?”

“No way,” Edo shook his head, “Not for me.”

“Since you seem so keen on it,” said Nick, folding himself back into the booth, pulling Luke next to him, “Tell me this: how does this sex with chicks thing work anyway?” Nick asked.
Edo exchanged grins with Mitch. Excellent.

“Luke,” prompted Mitch, “Why don't you answer that question for us?”

Luke slid his head into his hands, “Because I value my sex life and also, no. There is no way I'm describing it.”

Sam arrived with their plate of chips and everyone went quiet. His grunt meant he knew they were talking about things he wouldn’t want his other customers to listen to, but he liked them enough to ignore it.

Tash took a chip and poked it at Nick, “It depends. Do you mean how does it feel for the guy or the girl?”

Edo raised an eyebrow at her. Well, well, well.

“What?” she asked, “I may not have ever had sex with a man, but there are some very realistic sex toys out there. One of my exes was bi and her favourite toy was modelled on a specific man's penis.”

Luke groaned into his palms, “That is more information than I ever wanted to know.”

“Then you can leave,” said Edo, waving him away and grinning at Tash, “but why don't you share more details with the rest of the class?”

Nick shook his head, taking a chip from the plate, “You know, Edo, I still don’t see how you’re mentally old enough to be allowed to serve alcohol.”

Edo leaned in close as though he were sharing a secret, “It’s all in the act. Observe, chaval – I am cunningly disguised as a responsible adult.”

8. Luke

I'm just going to warn you now - sex. Sex, sex, sex. Just so you know.

“No, I don’t believe it,” came the shocked reply, “How have you never seen Terminator?”

Luke shrugged, propping the phone between his ear and shoulder and reaching into the back of the cupboard to find the tea, “It’s just not something I ever got round to.”

“What other films haven't you seen? You know I’m going to have to educate you. Imperial has the second biggest student-run science fiction library in the world and that includes film media.”

Luke almost dropped the box of teabags but caught it before it hit the counter, “I don't know. Titanic?”

Nick sounded like he was scribbling something down, “Tron? The original one, I mean.”
“Nope.”

“Avatar?”

“No.”

“Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog?”

“I don't know what the hell that is.”

There was a short pause that conveyed a sense of pity and despair even through the phone, “Star Wars?”

“Yes, of course.”

Nick snorted, “There's no 'of course' about it, you haven't seen flipping Pulp Fiction.”

“I saw the Star Trek 2009 reboot, if that helps.”

There was another long pause that Luke couldn't read, “I think it might. But not enough. I’ll be there in an hour.”

Nick turned up in dark jeans and a t-shirt so faded and worn out that you could see through it at the shoulder blades. It was clearly well loved.

It had become the new Sunday afternoon tradition to sit around Luke's flat and watching a film in-between snogging sessions, but hey, Wednesdays were good too.

 “I'm here,” said Nick, standing in his doorway with a packet of microwave popcorn, three DVDs and a list, “to educate you in the ways of the geek.”

The list was long enough to cover a whole side of an A4 piece of paper in 2 columns.

 “I can't believe you've never seen Hot Fuzz. You're British and it is an awesome film.”

“Shh,” said Luke offering him a menu, “Just choose your food. Food first, film later.”

They ordered Chinese food, bickering good naturedly about the merits of Kung Pao chicken and egg versus rice noodles.

They sat on Luke's very comfortable sofa (“Well done to the marketing department,” said Nick, sinking into it, “it really lived up to its promise.”) and put on the first DVD that Nick had brought.

They set themselves up on the sofa with their food and a drink and the remote control and focused on the screen, until Nick's chopsticks bumped his for a bite of food.

“I told you you'd want the chicken,” said Luke, still looking at the TV, but moving his hand so Nick could gather some of his food, “and you said you wanted Chilli Beef.”

“I do want the Chilli Beef,” Nick whispered after finishing his mouthful, settling into his side, “but I also wanted to try yours.”

“The things I put up with,” Luke bumping shoulders with him on purpose, “you had better be grateful.”

Nick pressed a gentle kiss into his shoulder before going back to his food.

The plot on-screen thickened.

They didn't move for a long time, afraid to change the easy comfort.

When the film ended, they got up, got rid of the takeaway boxes and put on the next film. Luke put an arm around Nick’s shoulders and it clearly took Nick by surprise. He tensed for a minute before relaxing into it, head before settling into the curve between Luke’s neck and shoulder.

At least Edo wasn’t around to mock his sappy grin.

They were in the middle of 'V for Vendetta'. Or maybe it was 'Blade', Luke was slightly too out of it to remember, focusing instead on the small noises and shifts that showed Nick’s reactions to the film, but he was pretty sure those were the other two DVD that had been brought over. Anyway, it was in the middle of one of the films when he felt it.

It was such a soft touch that Luke thought he was imagining it at first. Nick was trailing a finger up his arm, just a casual tracing that probably wasn't even entirely conscious.
Luke tightened his arm around Nick, a quick squeeze of affection. Nick looked up, leaning against his chest, to find Luke smiling down at him.

He gently removed Luke's arm from where it was curved around him and moved about until he was straddling his legs, knees either side of Luke's thighs.

Luke scooted forward an inch, just enough to make it more comfortable for him.

He went back to trailing his fingers slowly up Luke's arms, leaning their foreheads together and closing his eyes.

His mouth opened as if he was going to say something, but no sound came out.

Nick's hands completed their journey up Luke's arms, and he slipped one up to the back of Luke's neck, trailing his fingers along the curve of the bone at the top of his spine. His other hand stroked down Luke's back, fingers splaying wide and digging in, urging him closer.

This was going slow, but it had to be Nick’s decision.

JT and Edo had made it clear that Nick’s last relationship had been a disaster and bad for him, but not given him any details. Which was fair enough, it was something Nick himself had to share. Despite the lack of details, it was obvious that the ex in question had done something particularly awful to get the guys to be so overprotective.

Nick smiled at him and leaned in close enough to share breath, but not yet close enough for their lips to touch.

The tease.

Finally, Nick made a noise and Luke had a half-second to catch his breath before they were kissing. It was a soft, slow slide, easing them into the idea of doing this for hours.

Luke had relearned how to love making out, love the lazy curl of tongues together, the hot press of lips, the noises Nick made (God, the noises Nick made) for nothing but the sake of it.

Luke shifted so that he could support Nick better, cupping his arse with his hands and rubbing a thumb on the seam of a pocket.

Nick's lips got softer and his kiss got messier; he made a sound into Luke's mouth that made Luke’s stomach flip and scrabbled his hands up under Luke's shirt.

The last time they had tried to move their relationship into a sexual space Luke had had a crisis of conscience. Edo had made him promise not to “have kinky, kinky sexual relations” with Nick until he was sure that this was what he wanted, a relationship with a man, with this man.

He was sure and he was damn well ready to have sex with his partner.

 “Wait a minute,” said Nick putting a hand on Luke's chest to stop him, “hang on!”

“What?” Luke pulled back quickly, “What's wrong?”

He gave a small smile, “Nothing is wrong. Listen a minute. We're together, aren't we?”

Luke blinked, “Err, yes. Boyfriends and all that. You met my friends, I met yours. I thought we had established this?”

Nick's smile widened and turned slightly predatory, glint in his eye. A little scary, considering his normally happy-go-lucky behaviour, but a massive turn-on.

“Excellent.”

He stood up, dragging Luke with him towards the bedroom before letting go and pulling Luke's jumper off.

“I've been looking forward to this for weeks now,” the words came muffled through his shirt, which Nick was pulling over his head, “because despite all those promises I made to myself about waiting until I knew you were for real, I want you and you're the biggest fucking tease I've ever met.”

Suddenly, his belt was gone and his trousers were falling towards his ankles.

Luke could appreciate confidence in a man, but this was something else. He never even got a word out before Nick's tongue was coaxing him into playing, pressing him back onto the bed.

“I am going to climb on top of you and ride you until you forget who you are.”

Luke sort of wanted to take it slow, wanted to take his time, explore Nick’s body and make him feel good, but Nick clearly had other ideas.

Pausing only to remove his trousers and socks at the edge of the bed, Nick climbed on top of him, like he said, and ran his hands up Luke's torso, stopping at his shoulders.

“I'm going to make you stop thinking. Your brain got in the way of this last time and I'm not letting you make that same mistake again.”

He trailed his hands down Luke's arms to his hands and brought them up, stroking them with his thumbs, arching over him to drop kisses across his jawline.

“Hands over your head,” he breathed into the curve of Luke's ear, “hold onto the headboard. And keep them there.”

Luke gripped the headboard so tight that he would have marks on his palms in the morning.

Nick settled himself over his crotch, just above his dick.

“It's my turn to do the teasing.”

Nick ground down onto him.

“Fuck!” Luke exclaimed, hips thrusting up into the curve of Nick's arse, hands flying down the grip at his hips, “Shit, do that again.”

“Hands,” Nick repeated bringing them back to the headboard, “up here. Or I'll stop.”

He was definitely going to have marks on his palms in the morning.

Luke’s alarm woke them to the sound of some pop singer telling the world just how sexy they were.
Nick burrowed deeper into his pillow with a groan, “Off. Sleep.”

JT had warned him that Nick wasn’t a real human being before coffee. Luke could see what he meant, but seeing it in person was different. It was somewhere between scary, adorable and fascinating.

 “Come on,” he said, running a hand down Nick’s side, “If you get up now we can shower together.”

“We wouldn’t leave the shower,” said the tuft of hair sticking out from the duvet, “and then we would both be late. Go on, you first.”

Luke was sure this was just because this meant he could spend an extra few minutes in bed.

He got up and had his shower, flicking Nick with droplets of water to watch him squirm away when he came back.
He got dressed quickly, leaving his jacket and tie for later.

He put on coffee, set two places at the breakfast bar (Sofia’s idea, but surprisingly useful) and washed some fruit, putting it into a bowl. The minute the coffee was done he put some toast on to do and went to fetch Nick. The shower had turned off a few minutes ago.

When he walked back into the bedroom with a mug of coffee, Nick was on the phone and attempting to put a sock on at the same time.

“No, I'm at Luke's. I've got to go in and then a shift tonight, I'll be back as usual.”

He had his back to the door, to Luke.

“No, I know. Hey, it's fine. I don't need to be at the university until 11. I said it's fine.”

He let himself fall onto the bed with a soft thump.

“Because I like him, that's why! He's my boyfriend, I want to spend time with him.” A pause. “It's not like with Richard. It feels different – and if that changes, if he reminds me of Richard ever, at all, we'll talk about it.” A huff, “No, ok. I realise you're concerned, but it's not like that at all.”

Luke edged closer.

“I know. I know, ok? I appreciate it, really. Besides, if anything happens, you'll be the first to know.”

He could see Nick massaging the back of his neck with a hand, staring down at the floor.

“But you said he looked cool,” he said in an almost accusing tone, “You said he was nice. You never liked Richard. Your instincts aren't the same for Luke, are they?”
Luke backtracked slightly, making sure to be noisier as he approached the second time around.
“Listen, I'll talk to you later, ok? We'll have dinner after the Epiphany, I can do something with the turkey breasts we've got in the fridge – you do have a shift, yeah? Ok, cool. And juice, don't forget juice. See you tomorrow.”

Luke walked in, glancing at the phone.

“Who was that?”

“Just JT. He was a bit worried, because I forgot to contact him. I always have my phone with me. We tend to keep tabs – it's London,” he shrugged, putting the phone in his pocket, “so we're a bit careful. I was going to text him before I came over, but forgot.”

Luke nodded, handing over the mug of coffee, “Did you reassure him?”

“I did. He knows I’m doing ok, he just worries,” Nick smiled like nothing was wrong and took a sip, “Thank you for breakfast.”

“There’s toast in the toaster,” said Luke, following him out of the bedroom, “and fruit in the bowl on the counter. Feel free to take whatever. You can have whatever you want.”

Nick bit into an apple and considered this, sitting down.

“Hmm, no, I can’t.”
Luke sat next to him, “Why not?”
“Because if I did then we would be back in bed in the middle of round two, not having breakfast before work.”

Luke grinned, running a thumb over Nick’s shoulder, where a nice little red mark was hidden from sight.

“You could always come back later.”

“I have a shift. Tomorrow, though? You’re all mine.”
Luke bit into his toast.

“I’ll look forward to it.”

The office was pretty much empty when he got there, but that was par for the course. Very few people turned up early, but almost everyone left late.

He was greeted enthusiastically by Robbie, who just wanted to tell him about his date last night, with that woman from HR he’d been angling to ask out for a while.

Robbie had had the desk next to his for a few years now and he was a little like an overgrown child who was too charming for his own good. He was

The only problem with being promoted to team manager, decided Luke, was that one then had to construct a team. But he had texts from Nick to distract him from looking at CVs and approving room designs.

Robbie kept catching him grinning at his phone.

“Luke, dude. I’ve got to ask – is there someone under your desk?”

Luke hid his mobile under the desk, then, realising what that looked like, put it back on top, “What?”

“Is it your Facebook friend?”

Robbie knew and was also making an effort to hide it from the others, which Luke appreciated.

“What?” He asked again.

Robbie sat opposite him, “Not even listening to me. Where has our friendship gone, Luke? Where is the love?”

“I don't know, mate, where did you leave it?”

Robbie smiled a bit sadly, “I'm going to miss you, man. Why did you have to go and get promoted? Now Sheila's taking up all your time and you're going to move and I won't be able to come and sit with you and avoid working and I'll be on my own...”

“Hey, of course you are!” Luke leant forward, gesturing with one hand, “I'm just going to be down the hall. You know that.”

“Yeah,” Robbie ran a hand through his hair, looking away, “but you're my friend. I know you. I can work with you. You're the only one that really tries, with me. I know I can be loud and brash and a bit too much for people to really get along with, or – I don't know – get a handle on me.”

Luke frowned. He didn't quite know what to do with that.

“I'm weird, man, and I'm ok with that. But I know most people don't buy my brand of weirdness.”

“Look, hey, stop,” Luke cut him off there, “You are a great person, and you are a good friend. And, if it really bothers you, you can apply to be on my team.”

“What?”

Luke opened a drawer and pulled out an application form.

“You can transfer teams. The final decision is up to Sheila, I think, and Montford, but I can recommend it.”

“Really? You'd do that for me, man?”

“Of course. You're great to work with, you're a team player.  I’ve seen your work, I’ve worked with you for Pete’s sake, I know how good you are. You are the only person I know who I would trust with doing the creative side of thing by themselves, actually. As far as I'm concerned, welcome to the team.”

Robbie grinned, taking the form, “Off the record, right?”

A nod, “For now, yeah. But hopefully, on the record soon.”

“Thanks, man.”

Luke shrugged, “You're welcome.”

Robbie sat there for a moment, looking at the application form before looking up at him.

“Luke, I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to hug you now.”

Luke stood up and opened his arms. Robbie walked over to the other side of the desk and engulfed him in a bone-crushing hug.

“Seriously, thank you.”

“I promise you, not a problem. My pleasure. What are friends for?”

Robbie let go, rushing back to his desk, “I owe you a beer.”

Clearly this display of affection now needed to be offset by a display of manliness.

Robbie came back around lunchtime to discuss some ideas for improving communication flow between team members. He managed to check his e-mails whilst Robbie was gesticulating and realised that the very first one was from his clients from last week. He started composing a reply and didn't look up until Robbie coughed pointedly and tilted his head at him.
“You look busy,” he stated, “why?”
“Some of us actually do our jobs around here.”

“Job? Like, working?”

“Uh-huh.”
There was silence until Robbie let out a deep sigh.

“You can be so boring.”
“You could help, you know.”

“You look like you're the zone, I wouldn't want to break that concentration.”
Luke raised an eyebrow and pointed at the pile of team documents that needed checking, “You’re here, therefore you’re not busy. Help?”
So Robbie did, until lunchtime, when he went off to see if he could catch “that hottie from HR” and last night to con her into eating with him again.

Luke was waiting for an e-mail confirming receipt of data from a client while exploring (see: stalking) his boyfriend's Facebook profile, when the website informed him that Nick's birthday was just around the corner. Luke needed to plan. How was he going to deal with this?

First things first, he needed to Facebook-friend JT. From there, they could plan together, which would make Nick happy and help him make a good impression on both men. Life, like his job, was all about strategy.

Bo had added him on Facebook, which meant that every so often, inappropriate jokes were posted on his Wall. His brother liked them. So did Robbie. Edo commented with strangely specific suggestions.

Luke debated deleting them, but Bo didn't really mean any harm. Besides, Nick, his boyfriend (it's only real if it's Facebook official), would pop up in the posts and defend him every time.

Almost immediately, JT accepted his friend request. Nick 'liked' the post. Bo made a lewd comment about threesomes and not being invited to join in. Donna requested a video of said threesomes.

Robbie made noises at him from his desk about meeting “this Donna woman”.
“She’s married,” said Luke, “to my best friend.”

“Pity,” said Robbie, obviously scrolling down his newsfeed, “Does she have a sister?”

Hey, this is JT. You free for lunch tomorrow?

Can be. Time/place? Also, how did you get my number?

Stole Edo’s phone. :D

They met up in Chinatown, halfway between their jobs.

“So what do you do when you’re not bartending?”
“I work in a biology lab. Toxic moulds.”

Luke put his chopsticks down.

“Fascinating.”
JT grinned at him, picking up a dumpling, “Don’t worry, I wear safety equipment and wash really well.”

“How did you meet Nick?”

“We went to Imperial together. We bonded one night over tackling the largest pile of washing up you have ever seen. Seriously, if we had stacked all the plates and pans individually, that pile would have been at least 3 times taller than me. I was sitting on the only spare chair in the kitchen, clutching a dishcloth and a bottle of spray cleaner and apparently looking lost and desperate. He rolled up my sleeves and helped me through it. It would have been fine if any of it had been ours – well, some of it was ours, but we didn't make the mess. It was our stuff, but others had used it.”
“University is a time full of doing the dishes that aren’t your own,” nodded Luke, “and cleaning kitchens that you left spotless.”

JT snorted, “No kitchen ever stays clean. Ok, worst kitchen story?”

“I woke up one morning with seafood all over the kitchen and a girl in the corridor rocking back and forth groaning about dragons.”  Luke offered.

JT blinked, “Oh-kay. Dragons?”

“They were prawns.”

“Ah. Terrifying.”

“She was vegan,” he explained, “and she didn't quite know how to deal with all that... life all over the floor.”

JT couldn't contain a snicker, “That's horrible, but really funny at the same time.”

“I know,” said Luke, smirking back at him, “I felt really awful at the time for just giving her a pat on the back and going to clean them up, but she bought me a pint afterwards for rescuing her, so I guess that’s all she needed.”

“You’re a decent sort,” said JT thoughtfully, looking at his plate with a strange expression, “Thank God for that.”

Luke knew to take that really well.

“Alright, so. Nick’s birthday, you had ideas for that?”

“Yeah, I did, but I wanted to know if you were organising anything, if you have a tradition for it or anything.”
“Nope,” said JT with a grin, “You’re free to have sex all day with him.”
The waitress, who had been heading towards them, went bright red and spun round to walk back towards the kitchens.

JT sniggered when he noticed.

“Sorry,” he shrugged, “I’m not used to being in company polite enough to warrant processing thought before speech.”

“That’s ok,” Luke replied, “I’m used to it. I knew Edo long before I met any of you.”

“Ah yes,” JT nodded, “The grand master of flirting and inappropriate drinks.”

Luke raised an eyebrow.

JT sighed, “he gave me a ‘Bartender’s Wet Dream’ with the instruction to pass it on.”

“’Sex with the Bartender’.”

“Ha! Nick got a ‘Naughty Italian’ the other day too. I wonder just how many drinks Edo knows off by heart…”

“Back to the birthday ideas, though. We could have a surprise party for him?”

“If it happens it’ll have to be at yours,” said JT, “Our flat is wonderful and suits us down to the ground, but it is definitely not big enough to host a party. We generally do a meal out type of celebration.”

“Do you think he would like a surprise party?”

“To be honest I think you could put a paper crown on a lettuce head and he would find it charming,” JT grinned, “I haven’t seen him like this in a long time.”
Luke shifted in his seat, a grin of his own threatening to take over his face.
“And Edo says the same about you. If it wasn’t so adorable it would be vomit-inducing.”

As Luke’s blink JT made a face, “The brain-to-mouth filter went again, didn’t it?”

“Yep.”

“Damn. I’ve really got to start watching out for that.”

In the end they decided to hold a surprise party at Luke’s. The breakfast bar (and Luke was never going to get over quite how pretentious that was, despite its convenience) was suited quite well to doing a buffet-style meal, Nick would never expect it there and if he pushed some furniture around he definitely had the space to host the fifteen-odd people that JT knew for sure Nick would want there.

“Is that all? Is there no one he needs to impress with a party?”

Sofia had always needed to impress someone.

JT gave an impressive snort into his glass of Coke, “Impress? He’s a PhD student, not an exec.”
“I don’t know. People at work?”

“He’s only friends with a few and they’re already on my list. Chill, mate. Hey,” he said, looking up at Luke with the expression of someone who has just had a light bulb go off inside their brain, “do you want to bring people from work?”
“God no.”

The sentence came out before he could even think about it, but it was right. Robbie knew and didn’t care, had, in an uncharacteristic display of thoughtfulness, made sure to ask what Luke wanted to let the team know and proceeded to treat him as he always had. The rest of the team, though, did not know. It had been easier, before. Sofia was easy to mention. Even before he’d properly introduced her to his colleagues, years ago, when they had first decided to make it official, most people had known who she was because she had done an internship with them and spoke to them more regularly than he did.

Luke was struck with the sudden thought that maybe she had used those connections to keep tabs on him. No wonder she always knew so much.

“You’re not out at work?”

Luke shook his head, frowning down at the remains of his noodles.

Robbie didn’t care. Most people didn’t care about sexuality as long as they weren’t affected, right? Right.

“Are you ashamed of Nick? Of being gay?”
“First of all, I’m bisexual.” He corrected, and wasn’t it strange how much easier it was to admit out loud now that Sofia’s voice in the back of his head (“people don’t need to know if it’s not relevant”) was gone, now that he could feel it down to his bones how happy he was?

He launched into a possibly garbled and incoherent explanation about the promotion and the new co-workers and how it was all new and he wasn’t ashamed, he just needed to make sure everything was good, but he had picked out his team himself, he had made sure everyone would fit and like each other and…

“And?” Prompted JT.

“And, well, it’s not fair to Nick. Even if he says he doesn’t care.”

JT had the strangest look on his face. Like amusement. Like pride.

“Christmas,” said Luke, coming to the realisation that these were his colleagues and his boyfriend and he owed it to himself to be honest with everyone, “I’ll tell them after the company Christmas do. That way they will have time to think about it, avoid me if they want to, move to a different department if they want to.”

“Awesome,” said JT, “Are you going to finish those noodles or what?”

*****

Luke wasn’t sure how they had managed to keep the party from Nick, but it was the day before and he still didn’t have a clue.

They were working with the television on in the background. He wasn’t sure what was playing, but it was unobtrusive enough to let them concentrate without leaving them at the mercy of silence.

Nick was sitting at the table doing something on his computer. He had explained, but Luke hadn’t understood past the third sentence. Luke was on the sofa, amidst documents and mock-ups and summaries, trying to find the perfect combination and editing everything.

Nick made a disgusted sound.

“Hey,” he said, watching Nick stare at his laptop as though it had done something to personally offend him, “You want to go out tomorrow?”

“Well, I was kind of planning on staying in and riding you until you went cross-eyed, but if you’ve got any other ideas I’m open to that.”

Luke grinned at the casual tone, “Sort of. It is your birthday, after all, but if you don’t want to go...”

The worst bit about this whole thing – and by worst he meant best – was that he had to plan a way to distract Nick during the afternoon before the party.

“Oh, no, don’t think you’re getting out of that!” Nick pushed his laptop away and came to collapse onto the sofa next to him, piling papers onto the coffee table, “What did you have in mind?”

Luke put his pen and documents down, pulling Nick closer, “I was thinking dinner and a show. I’m told it’s a classic combination.”

“Oh wow,” said Nick, moving until he was lying with his head in Luke’s lap, “I see we’re going the posh route for this. What show did you have in mind?”

“Whatever you want.”

Nick closed his eyes and smiled, “Correct answer.”

“So where are we going?”

“Surprise me.”

Famous last words.

“Fuck,” enunciated Luke as they were on the underground going towards Leicester Square, “Shit, shit, shit.”

“What?” said Nick, leaning forwards, “What’s wrong?”

“I think…” Luke checked inside his jacket pocket, “I can’t find the tickets.”

He took the jacket off and went through all the pockets systematically.

“No, look, I’m so sorry, I can’t find them. I must have left them in my other jacket.”

Nick shrugged, “That’s ok.”
“No, it’s not. It’s your birthday, it’s supposed to perfect.”

Nick smiled reassuringly, “It is.”

Luke frowned, “I left the tickets at home. How is that perfect? Look, can we just nip back home? I’ll check the other jacket, then we can come back.”

“Sure,” said Nick, getting up from his seat, “It doesn’t start until 7.30, right? We have plenty of time.”

Luke headed towards the doors, “Excellent, ok.”

Nick guided them through the crowd back around to the other side and onto the next train back.

“I’m really sorry,” said Luke.

“It’s fine,” said Nick, taking his hand, “Even if we don’t make it, I’m happy to have some time with you. The last couple of weeks I’ve been overrun with helping the freshers with extra lab tutorials, extra shifts at work, actually working on the PhD. You help me de-stress.”

They walked slowly towards the flat, until Luke got a text.

Everyone’s here. How far away are you? JT

“Who is it?”

“Rob,” Luke shrugged, “It’s about work. Ok, let me just reply.”

A few minutes, we’re nearly outside the building.

“Was it important?”
“Not at all,” said Luke, shoving the phone back in his pocket, “work never is, not outside of working hours.”

The doorman nodded at them and gave Luke a wink. He had been briefed about the people going into his flat while he was out.

“You know,” said Nick, on the ride up, “I’ll always have fond memories of this lift.”

Luke could see the tips of his ears going pink in the mirrored wall.

“This won’t take a minute,” he said, abnormally loudly as they stepped out of the life, “I just need to check the jacket.”

Nick looked at him oddly, “I know. Come on, let’s get going.”

Luke unlocked the door more slowly than he had in his life, opened the door and let Nick in.

There was a moment of silence, then people spilled out of the bedroom holding food, banners, presents and singing “Happy Birthday” at the top of their lungs.

Nick’s face was priceless.

The party was in full swing and Luke was actually having a great time. He had been prepared to stay in a corner and let the scientists talk science, but there hadn’t actually been any need to be worried.

Edo was mixing drinks – no, wait, Eva had just come over, hit him and taken over – and JT, whose mohawk was a bright shade of blue this evening, was with Nick, who cutting the cake into slices whilst talking to a girl from his PhD, whose girlfriend was attempting to sneak her hand into the bowl of crisps.

The DJ from the Epiphany (Ben? Dave? Paul?) had control of the music, of course, and was flitting between background pop and songs everyone knew.

When did his group of friends become so obviously of the Epiphany?

The cake Luke had been really proud of. He had found the card of the woman who had sold them cupcakes for charity from the stall in Covent Garden on their first date and ordered a cake off her. It looked delicious. From the face Nick was making it tasted pretty delicious too.

Tash had wondered over to the drinks table and was she making eyes at Eva?

Edo wandered over with two drinks, “Luke, amigo, nice place.”

Luke accepted a glass, “Thanks.”

“You’ve got good taste.”

Luke glanced at Nick again, “Yes I do.”

“Aaaaah, chaval,” Edo toasted him with his glass, “Well done. You did good.”

“Psst,” said Mitch loudly, appearing out fo nowhere, “I think that woman over there might be trying to steal Tash from me.”

They all looked over. Eva was definitely flirting with Tash. They were smiling, chatting animatedly and laughing together.

“I hate to break this to you, hombre,” said Edo, “but she was never going to be yours.”

Luke left them arguing about Tash belonging to anyone but herself, walking over to Nick.

“Here,” he said, handing Luke a fork and offering his own plate, “Have a slice. It’s amazing.”

The girl from the PhD, Melissa, put a hand on her girlfriend’s arm, “No, Tina.”

“But you love me. Why won’t you let me have Doritos?”

“I’m not going to let you have Doritos because I love you. You know you would just feel bad tomorrow.”

Nick whispered, amused, as the two girls, “They’ve got lactose on them. Mel worries.”

Luke nodded.

The DJ put on a Beyoncé song. The girls started to dance together and Luke could see Mitch spin a friend of Nick’s onto the makeshift dance floor. Nick put an arm around his waist and his head on Luke’s shoulder.

JT gave him a thumbs-up as he boogied past, following Bo’s lead.

They had pulled the party off quite well, in the end.

Although some people had left around the time of the last tube, most had stayed on until Nick had had an attack of conscience of this being Luke’s flat and tipped the drunks out at about 3am.

A few stayed to help clean up the kitchen and living room and move the furniture back to where it belonged.

Mitch, Edo and JT gave them various slaps on the back, each with their own version of, “Sleep well tonight, eh guys?” along with them before gathering up their things and leaving.

Tash came up behind them, hugged them, grinned at their confused faces and followed the boys on their way out.

Nick looked torn between concern and amusement, “What do you think that was for?”

“She’s been flirting with Eva all evening. I think that was a ‘thank you’ hug.”

Luke had a look around. Most of the clearing up had been dealt with fairly efficiently and there was nothing they had to do now.

He started to make his way towards the bedroom, “I don’t think, at this point, that there is anything left that can’t be dealt with in the morning.”

Nick stretched, sliver of skin visible between shirt and trousers, “I agree. Bed, definitely bed. No more surprises.”

 “You never know,” Luke said, smiling cheekily at him as he walked by, “I might still surprise you.”

Nick grabbed his hips before he had made it all the way past and spun him round.

“Oh, I hope so,” he brought them together, “I'm looking forward to it.”

“Don't look too far,” Luke pulled him into the bedroom, “you might skip the good bits.”

Nick allowed himself to be led to the bed without commenting on that awful response, but pushed Luke down onto it when they reached the edge, quickly getting rid of the layers between them.

“Me first.”

With a grin, he lowered himself down to engulf Luke in warm, wet heat, Luke still on the bed. He levered himself up on one elbow, the other coming up to thread his fingers through Nick's hair, slowly stroking his scalp. He looked up through lowered lashes, suckling lightly at the head. Luke's grip tightened slightly at the sensation, elbow giving out under him.

They had talked about safety and diseases and had both underlined the fact that they had none, promise, which meant that blowjobs now didn't need condoms, which was great.

Nick seemed to love giving head. Luke obviously enjoyed being on the other side of it, but he (more and more often now) thought that if he were to give Nick the choice between chocolate and, well, his cock, Nick would probably choose him.

While Luke liked to take his time, slowly teasing and working up to the main event – unless it was the main event, in which case he approached it with the same easy care, wanting to bring his partner to the highest level of pleasure he could with just that one act. He was always good at concentrating – Nick, on the other hand, went ahead with seemingly boundless enthusiasm, seamlessly changing between techniques and movements and clearly enjoying himself the entire way through, without tiring himself out. It was between a skill and a talent. Luke considered it a gift, one he was extremely grateful for.

The moment Nick eased up slightly, Luke tried to take advantage to bring him up, but Nick wasn't to be moved.

There was a growl of protest, which caused some amazing vibrations, and a hand pushed his hips back down onto the bed. The implicit command to stay put was loud and clear. That was kind of hot.

Not knowing what to do with his hands, he went back to carding through Nick's hair, which produced a low hum of contentment. Good to know.

Nick wasn't letting up. Luke shifted, a silent warning that if he kept this up he wouldn't last that long. There was a low chuckle and warm fingers moved from holding his hips to stroking abstract patterns down to his balls, before rolling them gently.

“Nnngh.”

Luke wanted to sit up, wanted to watch his dick disappearing into Nick's mouth, lips red, cheeks pink, wanted to connect with the eyes glinting up at him through lowered lashes, wanted to watch Nick's smirk as he swallowed around him, but couldn't. His head only tipped back as he bit his lip, eyes screwing shut further as Nick pressed his tongue against the vein on the underside of his cock. Fuck that was good.

Luke's hips jerked as teeth scraped lightly against him, eyes popping open in surprise, and he breathed out a sound that was much less coherent than he had planned it to be.

Nick worked his way back up Luke's cock with his tongue, pressing into the slit at the top to gather the precome before making his way back down to mouth at his balls. Up to the tip again, a kiss, before sliding back into wet heat and firm pressure and yeah so good.

Luke made a noise of warning, attempting to sit up again. Nick curled his hands around his hips and  swallowed all of him, nose nudging at the curls at the base.

“Fuck!”

That was all the warning he managed to give, but Nick just drank it all down, throat muscles wringing the last of his orgasm from him.

He only realised his eyes were closed when he felt, instead of saw, Nick crawl him way up the bed to lie next to him. Luke's chest was still panting and he was probably flushed and sweaty.

There was a dip near his head, which meant that Nick was leaning on an elbow, watching him.

They lay like that for a while, Luke's eyes still shut, until there was movement. Breathing more quietly, trying to hear what was happening without opening his eyes. There was leaning over, mattress creaking, rummaging around in his drawer – Luke could tell where this was going. Nick leant back over and there was the click of a cap opening, before the body next to his moved and let out a shaky breath.

Luke gave a predatory smile, opening his eyes, turning towards Nick as his breath hitched.

Nick was facing him, eyes not entirely focused, one knee bent, hand behind him.
The bottle of slick was between them, catching Luke's eye when his gaze trailed down Nick's body.

He shifted closer, reaching out to follow the curve of his arm with the back of a fingernail.

Nick shivered, head coming down to rest on Luke's collarbone.
He had figured out that Nick loved the fact that he could take away Luke's carefully constructed, career-making mask of calm and perfectionism and charm to leave only the man underneath. A man generally begging for release, by the time Nick was done playing. And Luke loved that, got off on it like nothing else, which made it all the more thrilling that he could turn all of that control, all of that almost protective streak on its head with nothing more than a slow kiss and a softly whispered, “Let me. Please.”

His fingers reached where Nick was stretching himself open, skimming around the rim of his hole.

Nick whimpered into the crook of his neck, fingers stilling.

Luke drew back a little, trying hard to not move Nick's head too far and reached for the lube, drizzling some out onto his fingers.
He reached back around Nick, bringing his other hand over his head, scratching over Nick's scalp again.
Nick relaxed immediately, muscles loosening, shoulders relaxing, eyes fluttering closed with a contented sigh. Definitely good to know.

Luke ran lazy circles around Nick's fingers before edging one in alongside his. Nick slowly removed his fingers, letting Luke take over. He dropped his arm around Luke, knuckles brushing his back. Luke stretched his fingers out, moving in drawn-out circles.

Nick pressed an open mouthed kiss to his chest.

Slowly, he added another finger, curling upwards until Nick bucked and gripped his back so hard he would probably leave bruises.

“There?” Luke whispered.

Nick's nod was shaky under his hand.

So again, and twisting, creating a rhythm, shifting his hips so their cocks were aligned and they could rock against each other, hand on Nick's head still teasing through his hair.

It was crazy how intoxicating this felt, to hold this man like this, knowing that he could make him moan or beg with a simple kiss or a twist of his hips. Luke knew that he could never manage to hold off for so long if Nick hadn’t already rocked him to his core already with his tongue and Luke would think it might be cruel and ungrateful for repaying Nick’s hard work with this kind of prolonged teasing, if not for the fact that he knew perfectly well that the man loved it.

That Nick trusted him enough to let go like this, to just let Luke take care of him when he needed it, that turned him on more than anything he had ever experienced before.

Nick turned him on more than anything he had ever experienced before.
There was a quiet, “Stop.”

Luke stilled, fingers still moving shallowly in and out.

Nick looked up, eyes dark and no entirely focused, but determined.

“Now.”

So Luke had to obey. He slowly pulled his fingers away, which caused Nick to whimper at the loss, and discreetly wiped his fingers on the sheets. His other hand unwound form Nick's hair. He needed both hands to deal with the condom wrapper and rolled it on.

Nick mouthed at his shoulder in a desperate kind of way, trying to let some of the sensation out.

Luke lifted Nick's knee for better access, pressing them closer together, lifting Nick's hips along with it. He pushed inside, Nick's fingertips painting tiny bruises on his back.

His other hand went back up to thread into Nick's hair.

He started slowly, a barely there roll of his hips, but Nick clenched his internal muscles.

“Faster.”

Luke gripped harder at Nick's hair, “Demanding, aren't you?”

Nick bit at his shoulder, the closest place he could reach, “Faster, now.”

Faster, harder, the push and pull and drowning in sensation as they lost themselves in the rhythm, until Luke's control snapped at Nick's almost pained whisper.

“Please.”

Luke's hand let go of his hair, reaching down to tug at Nick's cock.

There was a sentence that Luke didn't catch. He pressed a kiss to his boyfriend's temple.

Nick stiffened in his arms, biting down on a moan, orgasm shaking through him, muscles clenching, setting off Luke's own.

Fuck.

An eternity and a few breathless moments later, Luke gently pulled out and dealt with the condom before rolling back next to his boyfriend.

“You ok?” He asked, voice soft.

Nick hummed an agreement, curling into Luke's body heat. That would more than do until morning. Hiding his smile in his pillow, he slid an arm under Nick's neck, pulling him closer and nuzzling into his hair.

Sleep came easily, Nick's soft breathing comforting him as he drifted off.