Chapter Text
Akk had never felt more single than he did walking into the restaurant where Kan and Thua were holding their engagement party. It seemed like everyone he had ever met was there with a partner hanging off their arm. Akk, as usual, was alone.
Being single hadn’t bothered him so much in his twenties—he’d had work to keep him company through the long hours of the night—but now that he was thirty and all of his friends were off getting married and having babies, the plus one he never seemed to be able to fill was starting to weigh on him. Although he would never admit it to anyone, he was lonely.
He snatched a glass of champagne off of a passing server’s tray, downed it in one gulp, and then stepped fully into the room. He had barely taken three steps when someone called his name.
“Akk! Over here!” It was Wat with Namo at his side, both of them sporting matching wedding bands. Akk had been a groomsman at their wedding eight months before. That was also the last time he’d had sex and even then it had only been sloppy handjobs exchanged in a hotel bathroom with one of Namo’s cousins. Akk preferred not to think about that experience if at all possible. It wasn’t exactly a high point in his life. He joined them, grateful for the company.
“Did you come straight from work?” Wat asked, fingering the lapel of Akk’s suit jacket.
Akk looked down at his clothing, concerned he was overdressed, but then spotted what had actually given him away: the lanyard hanging around his neck with his work ID attached. He cursed under his breath and removed it, shoving it in his pocket as if it had never been there at all.
Wat chuckled. “You never change, do you?”
No, Akk didn’t, but Wat made it sound like such a bad thing he didn’t want to answer. “How are you doing?” he asked instead and Wat immediately dived into a detailed explanation of the new movie he was shooting—a topic which, thankfully, required little input from Akk. Namo watched his husband adoringly. Akk looked around the room in search of more alcohol.
There were no waiters in sight, but the bar was easy enough to find. He stared at it longingly, waiting for Wat to take a breath so that he could politely excuse himself, but then he realized that someone at the bar was already staring back.
It was a young man—probably five or more years Akk’s junior—wearing dark pants and a white button-down that bared more of his chest than Akk was used to seeing on a stranger. There was a silver necklace dangling at his throat and his hair was artfully disheveled. He was just Akk’s type and he was staring right at him.
Akk felt his face heat at being caught looking, but the man didn’t seem to mind. He held his drink up in salute and winked. Akk looked away.
“Are you okay?” Wat asked, interrupting his own story. “You look flushed.”
“I’m fine,” Akk replied and, desperate to redirect him, changed the subject. “Where are Kan and Thua?”
As if summoned by their names, the grooms-to-be appeared at his side. Akk congratulated them for what felt like the hundredth time, but despite his bitterness at the state of his own love life, his goodwill for them was no less sincere. Kan and Thua had been dating since high school. They had the most solid relationship of anyone Akk knew. They deserved a happy ending.
“Akk, I want to introduce you to someone,” Thua said after a few minutes of idle chit-chat, standing on his tiptoes to scan the room. Akk groaned internally, but was careful not to let his frustration show on his face. He knew Thua meant well. “Where did he go? He was just here.”
“Thua, seriously, it’s fine,” Akk said, relieved. “I don’t need you to set me up with another one of your law school buddies. It hasn’t worked out the last five times, so…”
“He’s not for dating,” Thua said, but dropped back down onto his feet, finally giving up the search. “He’s my friend from back home—the one I was telling you about. Whatever. You’ll meet him later.”
Akk had no recollection of being told about a childhood friend of Thua’s, but in his defense, he mostly spoke to Thua at work and Akk was notorious for tuning out water cooler gossip.
Before he could reply, a large group of well-wishers arrived to steal Kan and Thua’s attention and Akk used the opportunity to slip off to the bar. The man he’d been staring at earlier was gone. The part of him that didn’t have the energy to make polite conversation with a stranger was glad of that. The part that hadn’t been laid in eight months was not. But it wasn’t like that boy would have been interested in him anyway. Someone who looked like that could have anyone they wanted. They didn’t have to settle for an aging workaholic who was, quite frankly, more trouble than he was worth.
He motioned the bartender over and ordered a double shot of whiskey.
“Tough night?” a voice asked from behind him. Akk turned to find the very man he had just been thinking about approaching as if he had been plucked straight from his mind. He took a seat on the barstool next to Akk and Akk just stared at him, stupefied. He was, somehow, even more attractive up close. He also looked younger—probably right out of college—but he had a confident air about him that made him seem older. He was also smirking the way fuckboys often did at bars and Akk wasn’t sure whether to be terrified or delighted that he had been targeted.
“Long night,” Akk corrected.
The boy hummed as if this was an interesting correction and then gestured for the bartender to bring him a drink as well. “You’re not secretly in love with one of the grooms, are you?” he asked, a twinkle in his eye. “Because that would suck.”
“No,” Akk said adamantly and the boy grinned.
“And yet you came here alone?”
The bartender passed them their drinks and Akk took a large swig of his. He felt like he was going to need it. “You seem to be alone yourself,” he noted.
“I am. Why? You interested?”
Akk turned to glare at him. “I don’t even know your name.”
“It’s Aye. And you are…?”
Akk hesitated before answering. He wasn’t sure why, but he had a feeling that telling this boy his name was something he couldn’t take back. “Akk.”
“Akk,” Aye repeated as if savoring the taste of the name on his tongue. “I like it.”
Akk also liked the way it sounded coming off of his lips, but he knew better than to mention it. He picked up his glass. “I should get back to my friends.”
He moved to stand but before he could, Aye put a hand on his thigh to stop him. Although Akk had no reason to obey, he stayed seated as if compelled. He glared at the boy once more. “What?”
“Nothing.” He shrugged. “I just wanted to say that if you get bored, come find me. We can get out of here. Together.”
Akk couldn’t help but laugh. “You sure work fast, don’t you?”
Aye threw his nose into the air, smug. “I know what I want.”
He certainly looked it. His eyes were smoldering with barely contained lust and he looked so determined, Akk wasn’t even sure they would make it all the way to his apartment right down the road. He could picture this boy fucking him in a bathroom stall, in the backseat of a car, in some seedy motel across the street. He didn’t entirely hate the idea. He shook his head, trying to clear it. He had to be practical.
“You don’t want me,” he said because whether Aye knew it or not, it was the truth.
“I do,” Aye countered easily.
Akk didn’t know how to convince him otherwise. He sighed deeply. “Why?” he asked, speaking mostly to himself. Aye answered anyway.
“You look so put-together,” he said, eyes raking over Akk from head to toe. “I want to make you fall you apart.”
Akk felt himself blush. It was such a line, but it had been so long since someone overtly flirted with him that he actually found it endearing. He took another sip of his drink.
“How old are you?” he asked.
There was a telling pause. “Twenty-five.”
“Okay, now how old are you really?”
Aye smirked and corrected himself. “Twenty-three.”
“Jesus,” Akk cursed under his breath.
“But, like, a mature twenty-three.”
Akk finished his drink in one gulp and then stood, clapping Aye on the shoulder. “Go find someone your own age to fuck. You’ll be happier. Trust me.”
“But—”
“It was nice meeting you, Aye.”
He walked off into the crowd, but heard Aye call out behind him, “I’ll be here if you change your mind.” Akk didn’t bother to turn around.
He returned to Wat and Namo and the night commenced. He kept an eye on the boy for a while, but eventually he lost sight of him in the crowd. He tried to convince himself it was for the best.
It was almost an hour later when Kan appeared at his side. “Mes is here,” he hissed, an unfamiliar urgency in his voice.
The name was so out of place that for a second, Akk couldn't even register what he meant. “Mes who?”
“Your ex-boyfriend? Mes?” Kan prompted.
Akk’s stomach dropped. Mes was more than his ex-boyfriend. Mes was his first everything. They’d gotten together in university and stayed together for six years until Akk asked Mes to marry him and Mes said no. He was the first casualty of Akk’s workaholic nature. He wouldn’t be the last.
“You invited him?” he hissed, pulling Kan behind a column to try to hide himself from view. He hadn’t laid eyes on Mes in almost four years. He didn’t want to start now.
“Thua did—you know how close they are,” Kan explained. “We would have warned you, but he said he wasn’t going to be able to make it, so we didn’t bother, and yet here he is...with his very pregnant wife. I’m sorry.”
Akk risked a glance around the column he was cowering behind. It wasn’t hard to find Mes. Even if six plus years of loving him hadn’t tuned Akk to his exact frequency, he had a way of taking up space in a room. He was tall and charismatic and when he talked, you wanted to listen. Time had aged him the same way it had aged Akk, but the lines on his face looked like they had been carved by happiness instead of worry. And by his side, beautiful and poised and perfect, was the woman he had married. The woman who gave him all the things Akk never could.
Tears pricked his eyes, but he hastily wiped them away. It wasn’t Mes himself he was upset about—their relationship had had fundamental problems from the beginning and Akk’s proposal had been a last-ditch attempt to hold together a thread that was already unraveling. Instead, it was the reminder that, once again, life was moving on without him.
“I think I need to go,” he said, looking around for an exit so that he wouldn’t have to see the disappointed look on Kan’s face.
“Are you sure? We could—”
But Akk was more than sure. There was nothing that could salvage this night. “Thank you for inviting me—and congratulations again. I’ll call you tomorrow.” And then, without another word, he turned and walked straight out of the building.
The first brush of a breeze against his skin felt like coming up for air after a long time underwater. He leaned back against the brick of the building, closed his eyes, and breathed.
Unfortunately, he soon found that he was not alone.
“You sure you’re not in love with one of the grooms?”
Akk jumped fantastically and turned to find Aye leaning against the same wall a few yards down. He had an unlit cigarette in his hand and was smirking as if Akk had walked right into his trap.
“That’s a nasty habit, you know,” Akk said, gesturing to the cigarette because it was far easier than addressing what was actually wrong with him.
“Well, I got rejected tonight, so…” He trailed off, thoughtful. “You want to give me a reason not to light it?”
Akk knew he shouldn’t—knew that in his right mind he wouldn’t—but in front of him was a beautiful boy and he was offering him an escape. Akk had no desire to resist the Siren song any longer. He was more than willing to crash his ship against the shore.
“Do you want to get out of here?”
Aye tasted like whiskey and his kiss burned like it too. They crashed through the door of Akk’s apartment making out so ferociously that he barely managed to kick the door closed before Aye had him pressed up against a wall and dropped to his knees in front of him. Akk’s heart was racing painfully hard and he felt drunk off of more than just alcohol. Aye smirked up at him in the dark, clearly pleased with the effect he had, and then began fiddling with Akk’s belt only to get distracted by something just out of sight. His smug grin was replaced with a look of wonder and instead of finishing what he had started, he stood and walked further into the room. It at least gave Akk a second to catch his breath.
“You live here?” Aye asked, stepping into the living room and looking around as if he had never seen a place so lavish. It wasn’t opulent by any means, but it was spacious, clean, and new enough to be impressive. Akk flipped on a light switch and Aye glanced over his shoulder at him.
“I do,” Akk agreed, although he thought that was probably obvious.
Aye ran his hand over the leather sofa and whistled before turning back to Akk, his smirk once again in place. “I should fuck older men more often. All of your furniture matches.”
Akk rolled his eyes. “I’m begging you to stop talking.”
Aye laughed, his joy evident, and Akk couldn’t stop himself from kissing him again. He wanted to taste that laughter. Aye swallowed the kiss with a sigh, cradling Akk’s head in his hands and when he pulled away, his eyes made promises for his body to keep.
“Bedroom,” he purred against Akk’s lips and like the slave that he was, Akk took him there.
After his break-up with Mes, Akk had become an expert in one-night stands. It wasn’t entirely in his nature, but he’d done it out of necessity, not wanting to sentence someone else to the life he had chosen for himself—the long hours and the non-existent weekends. And even though the law firm was established now, even though he had employees he could delegate extra tasks to and hadn’t worked a weekend in years, that was still how he saw himself: someone too busy to be loved.
Aye, however, was not behaving like a one-night stand was supposed to. He was too open. Too comfortable. He laughed as he jumped onto Akk’s bed and started doing snow angels in the sheets.
“Is this Egyptian cotton?” he asked, sliding the fabric through his fingers.
“I don’t know,” Akk admitted, climbing onto the bed on top of him. Aye released the sheets to grab onto his shirt instead. “But I’m starting to think you’re only after my money.”
Aye smirked. “Just a happy accident, I assure you.”
Akk kissed him and Aye kissed him back and soon they were shedding clothes like extra skin until Akk was hard and so turned on that he couldn’t breathe. He hadn’t had sex like this in years—the type you could lose yourself in. They type that made you remember why people had sex in the first place.
Aye seemed to prefer that Akk undress him, so Akk took his time, removing his clothes layer by layer as Aye watched him intently. Akk could feel his gaze like the brush of skin against skin and it gave him goosebumps.
Once Aye’s clothes were off, Akk was very much of the opinion that he should never put them back on again. His skin was tanned with a dark dusting of hair from his navel to his groin and his cock was already standing erect against his stomach. The nudity didn’t seem to bother him. He was stretched out on the sheets, lazing like a cat, and it was as though he already knew he had all the time in the world. That Akk was at his mercy tonight, for however long it took.
Only once Akk had undressed them both did Aye sit up. He let his gaze track across Akk’s body hungrily and then kissed him wet and messy—a preclude of what was to come. When he pulled back, he bit Akk’s bottom lip just slightly, and it went straight to Akk’s cock.
“How do you want to do this, Big Foot?” he purred.
“I don’t care,” Akk said, partially because he truly didn’t, but mostly because he had a feeling Aye knew his way around a bedroom far better than Akk did.
Aye smirked. “Then roll over.”
Akk hesitated, not necessarily from nerves, but from embarrassment. From the act of being vulnerable with someone he wasn’t even sure he could trust. But he couldn’t deny that he wanted it—oh how he wanted it. Aye’s smirk widened as if he knew it, too. He gestured to the mattress once more and, face burning, Akk laid down on his stomach. Aye palmed the globes of his ass and then placed a soft kiss on the small of his back.
“Lube?”
“Bedside table.”
Akk didn’t bother turning to watch him fiddle through drawers. He rested his forehead on his arms and waited. Soon, Aye returned, trailing kisses up his back until he was close enough to whisper in his ear, “How long has it been?”
Akk wasn’t sure what had given him away. He was too afraid to ask. “Long,” he admitted.
Aye bit the top of his ear playfully. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of you.”
And although Akk had come into the night expecting something rough that would leave him both sore and regretful in the morning, Aye wasn’t lying. He did take care of him, using both his fingers and his mouth to open Akk up with more regard than he’d been shown by any partner except Mes—and even then, it had only been at the very start of their relationship. But despite the diligence, his ministrations weren’t clinical or rote. Instead, he seemed genuinely concerned about Akk’s pleasure. Within minutes, Akk was stretched wide and on the verge of coming.
“Aye,” he whined, clenching tight to the bedsheets. Aye continued thrusting his fingers into him, brushing across his prostate with every stroke, and the sharp cresting wave of pleasure washing over him felt all-encompassing.
“Hmm?” Aye hummed as if he himself was too distracted for words.
“If you keep doing that, I’m going to come.” He was laying flat on his stomach, his dick trapped between his body and the mattress, but there was enough friction for him to get off and the only thing stopping him was the tiny shred of self-control he had left.
Aye hummed again, speeding up his strokes as he placed a soft kiss on his back. “Then come.”
Akk wasn’t usually a submissive person—in bed or otherwise—but there was something so nice about not having to think. He didn’t question it. He just let himself come, completely untouched, and the release felt so earned that it almost hurt. He groaned, bucking between the bed and Aye’s fingers, and Aye ran a soothing touch along his flank to soothe him.
“That’s a good boy,” he praised, slipping his fingers out of Akk’s very willing body. “Now, get on your knees.”
Akk did as asked, blissed out and exhausted, but when he felt Aye’s cock pressing gently at his rim, his exhaustion was replaced with barely-contained excitement. He pushed back on his own, encouraging Aye to hurry it along.
“Is this okay?” Aye asked, pushing just the tip of his dick inside before removing it again. Akk, oversensitized and unable to form words, simply nodded. Aye pressed in again slowly and Akk felt like he was being ripped apart and put back together all at once. He hadn’t realized he was making a sound, but he must have been because Aye slowed down and shushed him. “I’m right here, baby. You’re okay.”
After the initial squeeze, Akk was fine. In fact, he wanted more, but Aye had no way of knowing to give it to him, so he started moving on his own, forcing Aye in deeper, and for the first time all night, the younger man was speechless. Akk chanced a glance over his shoulder to find Aye staring at the spot where they were connected, his eyes glazed over, his mouth open as if in rapture.
“Fuck me,” Akk demanded and Aye came back to himself.
He smirked. “Yes, Sir.”
He’d learned from Akk’s demonstration and apparently took instruction well. He fucked him exactly the way Akk wanted—hard and fast and relentless until they were both a writhing, sweaty mess and Akk wasn’t thinking about work or his ex-boyfriend or all of his friends moving on and leaving him behind. He was only thinking about Aye.
“Does that feel good?” Aye asked, reaching around Akk to stroke his cock, but Akk was still too sensitive for that. He swatted him away. He didn’t want to come again right now. He just wanted to feel.
“Harder.”
Aye had the type of stamina that spoke of experience, but soon even he was flagging. “I’m going to come,” he said, so Akk clenched down and forced it out of him, wanting to end things on his own terms.
Aye grunted and buried his nose in the back of Akk’s neck as he came. It made Akk feel powerful and strangely loved, especially as Aye started whispering sweet nothings into his ear as if he couldn’t quite help himself. “That was so good. You feel so good.”
Akk collapsed back down onto the mattress with Aye still inside of him, but Aye didn’t seem in any rush to move. It was nice for a minute just to be held, but eventually Akk pushed him off.
“Sorry,” Aye said and placed a soft kiss on Akk’s temple before climbing out of bed to dispose of the condom. But then, to Akk’s surprise, he returned to cuddle him once more. The affection was welcome, but Akk was hot and sticky and no longer entirely comfortable. After a minute, he pushed Aye away again and rolled over so that they were facing each other instead. Aye was smiling from ear to ear, young and happy and eager.
“That was…wow,” he said. Akk’s eyes were mid-roll when suddenly Aye kissed him—and kept kissing him as his hand snaked between their bodies to grip Akk’s cock, which was hard once again. “Can you come one more time for me?” Aye asked into his mouth, stroking him to the same rhythm he’d fucked him to earlier, and soon Akk did. Aye kissed him through it.
Once he came down from the high, Akk couldn’t help it—he laughed. They were both a mess, having sex like teenagers, and it felt so damn good.
“What?” Aye asked, chuckling along with him.
“Nothing,” Akk said because he didn’t know how to explain that this felt like a scene from someone else’s life. An alternate reality where he was happy and not alone.
“Do you want me to go?” Aye asked, but as he did, he curled into Akk’s side, resting his head on his chest as if he already knew what the answer would be.
“No,” Akk admitted and it felt big, but Aye just nodded.
“Let me take a quick nap and then we can do it again.”
Akk laughed because he thought he was joking, but he wasn’t. They did do it again—several more times, each better than the last.
Akk knew he had been fucked good when he woke up the next morning and the only thing he wanted to do was stay in bed all day. He hadn’t called in sick to work, well, ever, but for the first time, he thought about it. Until he rolled over and realized the other side of the bed was empty.
He sat up in surprise. Waking up alone was nothing new, but he’d really thought Aye would stay. It left him feeling dirty in a way he hadn’t entirely expected. He’d known what this was. He had no one to blame but himself.
He collapsed back onto his pillows with a heavy sigh, now contemplating calling in sick for a very different reason, but before he could wallow too much in his own misery, his bedroom door opened and Aye stepped inside already dressed in the same clothes he’d worn the night before, two steaming cups of coffee in hand. Akk sat up, almost positive he was hallucinating, but Aye just kissed him on the forehead and passed the cup of coffee over as if it was a perfectly normal thing to do.
“Good, you’re up,” he said, sitting down on the edge of the bed. “I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye. Your coffee maker is insane, by the way. What does that thing run on? Magic? I had to google the instruction manual.” Akk said nothing. He didn’t know what to say. “Unfortunately, I have to go. I’m starting my internship today.”
That got his attention. He groaned and took a large sip of his coffee. He had fucked a college student. Jesus Christ.
“You okay to walk, old man? I didn’t throw your back out, did I?” Akk glared at him. “You’re grumpy in the mornings. I’ll text you.” He stood, kissed Akk on the lips with the casual affection of a couple that had been married for twenty years, and then headed towards the door.
“Will you really?” Akk asked, the words escaping before he could stop them. He wanted Aye to text him, that was the thing, and he didn’t want to get his hopes up for nothing.
“I will,” Aye said.
Akk scoffed. “I have a hard time believing the sex was that good.”
Aye smirked. “The bed, however.” Akk threw a pillow at him, but he dodged it. “The sex was that good,” he said seriously. “But did you ever think I might want you for something other than sex?”
“My coffee maker?”
Aye smirked. “I’ll text you!” he repeated, more adamantly this time, and then with a wink he was gone.
Akk didn’t bother calling in sick to work because he knew that if he stayed in bed daydreaming about the best fuck of his life, he would go crazy waiting for a text that might never come. But, for the first time in years, he did take his time getting to the office. He took a long, hot shower. He stopped for breakfast at a cafe he’d been wanting to try. He wondered if Thua would be able to tell as soon as he walked through the door that he’d had sex. He felt like he was glowing.
Halfway through breakfast, he got a text. He was embarrassed by how fast he reached for his phone—especially since it was most likely just his secretary trying to figure out if he’d offed himself overnight—but he was not disappointed. The text was from Aye. It was a bathroom selfie taken in what looked to be a fairly nice apartment and in it, Aye was wearing his university uniform and a sexy glower. Beneath the picture was written, “I told you I would text. Want me to send you one without clothes as well?”
Akk didn’t bother to respond, but he thought about it all the way back to the office because the truth was that he hadn’t been this excited about life in a very long time. Maybe, just maybe, this could actually be something.
He was still thinking about Aye when he walked into work—so much so that he would have missed the large crowd gathered in the common area if Thua hadn’t waved him down.
“Akk, there you are! I’ve got someone I want you to meet. Our new intern.” Akk must have rolled his eyes because Thua glared at him and mouthed, “Be nice.”
So Akk schooled his features into his most professional of smiles as the group of lawyers moved to allow him entry to the group. He stepped forward, hand already outstretched, but he froze when he caught sight of who he was supposed to be meeting. Because there, wearing the same uniform Akk had been wanting to rip off of him only seconds earlier, was Aye.
He looked at Akk, surprise crossing his features for only a second, and then he smirked. “Good morning, boss,” he said, an amused glint in his eyes. “You’re certainly running late today, aren’t you?”