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The ocean was louder here than he’d expected, North Carolina waves hitting the sand in a steady rhythm, the sound traveling up to the shore to the deck of their cottage. The cottage that six months ago had only been a bookmarked Airbnb tab, tacked to the board waiting for calmer days, tabled for when things steadied out. The same way they’d tabled having a wedding to solidify what was already on paper.
When things did steady, there was a backyard wedding waiting on the other side - and rings that rapped against the steering wheel as they took shifts driving Gale’s truck the two long days down to the coast.
The family next door had gone in an hour ago. When they’d first gotten into town Gale had stood at the rail and watched the kids chasing each other up and down the sand. They dragged their feet when their parents came out to call them in for dinner, the younger of the two- a blonde headed little boy -- still scooping at the sand with a plastic shovel even as he backed toward the porch.
The sight of it made Gale’s chest warm, with the realization that it no longer felt like he was looking through the glass at something reserved for other people's lives. He realized he could look straight at it now without bracing for the longing to sting -- thinking faintly that while not tomorrow, maybe not anytime soon at all, they’d have that too.
Someday.
John had found the deck swing the second he came outside and sprawled across it with one leg kicked up, shoulders loose in a way Gale was still getting used to seeing. He’d lit a cigarette even though he’d said he quit for the trip, the ember flaring warm orange against his cheek each time he drew in. Smoke curled up into the salt-heavy air, blending with the scent of the ocean.
It made Gale’s stomach flip, stupid and sweet.
Moving from where he’d started sitting beside him, he ended up mostly in his lap. Chest half turned, he let one arm rest along the back of John’s shoulders.
John’s free hand traced idle circles at the small of Gale’s back, his thumb catching on the hem of his shirt. Every few passes it slipped higher under, just enough to make Gale’s face warm.
“You gonna say it?” He said quietly, giving the shell of his ear a quick peck.
“Say what?” Gale said, tilting his head back against his shoulder.
“That you want one.”
Gale smiled, lazy.
“You’ll gloat.”
“Yeah, I will.”
John tapped the cigarette once against the ashtray.
“C’mere baby.”
Gale tilted until his knees were bracketing his hips, the swing chains groaning at the shift in weight. John’s free hand came up to the back of his neck, firm as he took a drag and leaned in. When Gale parted his lips the smoke came with.
It caught at the back of his throat, and John kissed him through it until Gale exhaled against his mouth.
“Still got it, huh?”
Gale gave him an eyeroll to that, tilting his head back against his shoulder. He reached forward to bring his hand closer, fingers finding the wedding band that had been there for three days now. He rubbed his thumb against the metal, John watching him with soft smile.
“You picked good,” John said, voice tender.
Gale didn’t look up from fiddling with the jewelry.
“Talkin’ about the ring or the husband?”
John grinned, big and boyish, as he bopped his head from one side to the other in thought.
“Think I’m gonna go with both.”
Gale leaned forward to kiss him again, slower this time. Their lips dragged a little, heat rising between them as John’s breath caught faintly against Gale’s upper lip. The porch swing rocked under them, ashtray rattling where John had set it on the bench arm.
When Gale finally pulled back a thin string of spit stretched between them, catching the deck light in a quick glint before it gave and landed on the front of John’s shirt.
John made a face, mock affronted, and nudged Gale away from him with the back of his hand. He laughed low as he went to stand.
“C’mon,” He said as he held a hand out for him to steady himself with, Gale a little unsteady as he unfurled from where he’d been curled up to rise to his feet. He followed John inside, the door creaking shut behind them with a click.
“Go,” He said, nodding toward the hallway. “I’ll lock up.”
John hesitated, like some part of him wanted to argue out of habit, to insist on checking the door himself. But the push-back never came, his shoulders dropping and expression softening.
“Don’t be too long,” He quipped with a squeeze of his bicep before turning to leave.
Gale watched him move down the hallway- tracking the movement of his shoulders down the sway of his hips. He waited until he saw him slip into the bedroom and flick the light on before he went to do what he’d actually stayed out here to do.
When he’d checked the back door he moved to the front of the house, sliding the deadbolt into place with a thunk, and bending to check the bottom lock even though he’d turned it when they first got in.
The porch light went off when he pushed the switch down with one finger- admittedly slower than he needed to. Gale toed the door mat back into place from where it had shifted to the side, brushing off the sand he’d tracked in with a slow drag of his foot.
Letting his mind wander to John, the little Missouri stopover crawled back to the front of his mind.
It was near the middle of the night when they stopped at the rest area somewhere east of nowhere that John had read about on a blog he’d tracked down. With the truck pulled into a spot near the back of the lot, Gale had said he wanted to sleep more than anything else.
But John had swayed him - call it wedding bliss.
The men’s bathroom smelled like piss and pine cleaner, but the far stall had a hole worn straight through the divider. Gale had barely had time to ask who actually used these anymore before John dropped to his knees in the other stall, cocky and grinning as he rapped against the metal with his knuckles.
Soon enough Gale had found his forehead pressed against the stall, John's mouth working him through the hole.
Heat curled lower in his belly the longer he let his mind stay back there.
He knew - for certain, that John was starting without him, could practically see him down the hall two knuckles deep already.
So he took another few minutes longer to dawdle, crossing into the kitchen to check that the oven they hadn’t touched yet was off.
When Gale did finally make his way down the hall, his breath caught as he entered the bedroom even when he’d been expecting it. John was in bed with a pillow shoved under his hips, lube bottled uncapped on the night stand, fingers working inside himself in a lazy rhythm.
He didn’t flinch at the sound of the door opening, just tilted his head back with a low groan, ass moving down against his hand.
“Impatient,” Gale chided, shutting the bedroom door behind him with his foot as he stripped down himself.
John just let out a breathy little mmph, and kept going, hips twitching each time he got the angle just right. His other hand was fisted in the blanket, the tendons in his wrist flexing with his grip.
Gale climbed up onto the bed slowly, and John’s eyes finally cracked open as the mattress shifted.
Hovering above him, he let his cock hang heavy between them, bobbing with each shift of his body, flushed deep red at the head.
“You think you’re good?” He asked, voice low as he stroked himself, tight knuckled.
John swallowed hard, pulling out his fingers with a slick little pop.
“You check." He said, voice already wrecked.
Gale let out a shaky breath as he settled flat to the bed, face sinking between John’s legs.
John’s hole was pink and slick, rim still loose and twitching from where he’d just been fucking himself open. The skin around it was flushed and smeared with lube that had trailed down over the crease of his ass.
Gale groaned low as his cock dripped slick onto the sheets, not waiting a second longer before he ducked his head.
John cried out, legs twitching as he fluttered under the first stroke of Gale’s tongue. Groaning into it, Gale dragged his tongue wide and flat then pressed it deeper, circling around the sensitive ring of muscle.
“Oh,” John gasped, both hands clawing at the sheets. “Fuck, fuck,”
Gale had one hand spread firm over John’s thigh, the other gripping his ass to keep him in place. His tongue circled again one more time before pushing inward, tongue-fucking him slow and deep, savoring the taste of him.
John was trembling now, feet dragging uselessly over the sheets as he tried to brace, cock twitching against his belly.
Pulling his face back just enough to spit, Gale watched the salvia drip down before burying his face back in.
John broke.
“Gale, Gale, Gale” He choked out on a sob of pleasure, hips rocking up against nothing. “Need you, need you in me orI’mgonna- ah,”
Gale pulled back slowly, tongue trailing up with a final long lick that made John’s whole body jerk. Getting back up onto his knees, he started stroking himself again, breathing heavy.
“Show me.”
John reached down with shaky hands and pulled himself open, fingers nearing his hole. Groaning, Gale grabbed the base of his cock and lined himself up, pressing it inside. Just the tip was enough to get John whining again, brow furrowed as he tipped his chin down.
Savoring it for a moment, Gale inhaled - and pushed all the way inside on the exhale, moving until his balls smacked against his ass. John’s back arched, his thighs jerking as Gale gave an experimental grind backwards and forward, the way John was already clenching around him making him dizzy.
It wasn’t long before his thrusts found a steady rhythm, hips snapping forward with the slap of skin-on-skin echoing. His head hung low, gaze dragging down John’s body to where his own nails dug crescent-shaped indents into the meat of his thigh. The muscle there flexed with every push in, and the sight of it made Gale shudder.
Bringing his free hand to John's throat, he didn’t press hard enough to cut his air off in any meaningful way -- but positioned his fingers just right for his wedding band to rest right over his pulse. The touch of cool metal was enough to make John’s breath catch, mouth falling open from where he’d had his bottom lip trapped between his teeth.
John keened, legs shifting, trying to tilt his hips just right. One hand groped blindly for Gale, while the other slipped lower, fingers fumbling for his cock where it was flushed red against his stomach.
“Aht.” Gale said and caught his wrist mid-motion, shoving his arm up over shoulder. Before John could blink, Gale grabbed the other one too and pinned it back the same way.
John groaned, head falling back. He swallowed thick, face scrunching up in frustration.
“‘s not fair,” He said, voice ragged.
Gale just nuzzled into the side of his face, lips brushing the stubble rough on John’s jaw, breathing in the scent of him.
“Know you can finish like this. Wanna see it.”
John barked a soft laugh, but it cracked in the middle. “Gotta fuck me harder then, baby,” He rasped, reaching down despite Gale’s hold to squeeze a handful of his ass. The smack that followed rang out sharp and obscene. “We can pay ‘em back if you break the bed, c’mon.”
Gale gave in to him like he always did.
He shifted his weight, braced his knees wide and repositioned, cock dragging wet and hot out to the tip before he slammed back in, hard enough to punch the breath out of both of them. Gale’s breathing broke into harsh, wrecked grunts with every stroke, sweat dripping down his temple to his jaw and vanishing between their bodies.
“Ah, there- there,” John choked out on one particular thrust, and Gale drove his cock against the same spot again, and again, reveling in him clenching impossibly tighter around him -- like he hadn’t been fingering himself open just a few minutes ago.
Gale’s hand slid from John’s thigh to his side, brushing up across sweat-drenched ribs before settling low across his pelvis. He watched the way John’s head tipped back, exposing his throat again. Watched how his mouth parted in that soft, ruined little shape, how his breath caught with every deeper grind.
John came without warning, guttural groans clawing out of his throat as his untouched cock pulsed between them. Spunk shot up, painting his own chest, hitting his chin, and splattering across Gale’s collarbone and the side of his jaw
Gale didn’t slow, only pressed his forehead to John’s temple as he fucked him through it, panting into his face.
"Shit, hey, stop," John gasped suddenly.
Gale jerked back, blinking sweat out of his eyes.
“What?”
John swallowed hard.
“I’m gonna piss,” He rasped, voice strained “I’m about to piss myself, y’ gotta let me up-”
Something in his chest seized, then unspooled.
“Just do it,” He blurted, dick twitching where he’d only halfway pulled it out of him.
John’s eyes flared wide.
“We’re gonna get a fine,” He said hoarsely, halfway to a laugh - and made no effort to move.
“We can do laundry,” Gale said, finding his words tripping over themselves to leave his tongue as he pushed all the way back into him. He pressed a kiss to John’s forearm where it was still braced.“’Kay?”
John nodded, wordlessly.
Gale’s fingers slipped under John’s knee and hoisted, shoving his leg up and out, yanking him down against the mattress from where he’d been half sitting up, bending him into a tighter angle that made John cry out.
When he flicked his eyes down, they went right to his cock where new droplets were gathering at the head, trembling on the edge before gravity pulled them down -- piss mixing with the residue of his release that had been smeared there from his stomach.
Gale exhaled through his teeth as he kept up his thrusts, the coil in his gut twisting tighter with each one.
“More,” He punched out, voice shredded. “Let go, c’mon- want it, give it me,”
John’s whole body jerked under him. His eyes squeezed shut, head tilted back as he whined - a needy, thin sound.
When he let go, it hit Gale’s chest sudden and warm, then lower, soaking his stomach where it met John’s. A few errant streams caught his shoulder, his neck, and just high enough on his chin that he could taste it when he sucked his bottom lip in.
Gale’s body jerked, cock kicking inside John like it had a mind of its own. The musky scent of it hit him fast, mixing with the sweat and the sex already thick in the air.
“God fuck-” Gale hissed, folding forward over him as he drove in with punishing force. He could feel his own thighs screaming, muscles burning from the pace he was holding.
John was still pissing, less now, but still going, his body trembling as it came.
One, two, three more thrusts and Gale came undone, burying himself as far as he could go as his orgasm rolled through him. He felt his own release flooding into John, droplets of it forced out by the pressure, dripping back down between them to the mattress.
Sagging forward, Gale found his arms braced on either side of John’s body, his weight settling against his heaving chest.
When he’d caught his breath enough to move back, he winced at the oversensitivity as his cock slipped out. Sitting back on his knees, he felt a bit like he might tip over, panting like he was treading water.
John blinked at him from where he’d half-way sat up.
“Shit,” He said after a second. The laugh that followed was dry and disbelieving, his face was flushed all the way to the tips of his ears as he shook his head at nothing in particular.
Gale looked down at himself, then back up at his husband - laugh joining his.
He felt high.
John pushed up onto one elbow, moving like it took him a minute to remember how his limbs worked. He shuffled forward on his knees and kissed him, letting his thumb run along the line of his jaw.
When he pulled away, his mouth was twitching into a smirk.
“Still got it,” He said, giving his cheek a pat, and pinching it a little between his thumb and index finger.
“Good,” Gale said, pushing his bottom teeth up against his tongue for a moment. “I was worried.”
John smiled again, a lopsided, crooked thing that made one side of his mouth tuck higher than the other. A yawn followed, and he rubbed the back of his face with his hand.
“You’d be mad if I let you go to sleep without showering,” Gale said softly, breath still coming labored as he scooted to the edge of the bed.
“We’re sleepin’ in one of the other bedrooms, first of all,” John said, teasing tone to his voice.
He pushed himself upright with both hands on the mattress, moving slowly. By the time he crossed into the bathroom behind Gale, he still looked a little dazed, hair stuck to his forehead.
Gale reached to turn on the shower, the pipes gave a short rattle before the water came on.
Behind him, John leaned against the sink with one hand.
“You gonna make it?” Gale asked without turning around, testing the water with his fingers.
John huffed out something that was almost a laugh. “I dunno,” He said. “If this is how you treat your husband on night one, I might not make it to night two.”
The word husband hit Gale square in the chest the way it always did, heavy and sweet all the same.
“You don’t seem too unhappy about it.” He mused, flicking his eyes to him over his shoulder.
John pushed off the sink and stepped closer, the warmth of him brushing Gale’s bare shoulder as he reached to move Gale’s chin towards him with two fingers
“Hey,” John murmured. “Look at me.”
Gale listened.
“There’s not a single part of me unhappy about you,” He said, tender. “Not one.”
The shower hissed behind them, steam already starting to rise - neither of them having flicked the switch for the fan in their stumbling in.
Gale reached out, fingers brushing along John’s jaw through the rough stubble there, thumb tracing the warmth he found there.
“You okay?” John asked, stepping in just the slightest bit closer, voice still pitched soft.
“You have something,” Gale said with as much seriousness as he could muster, fighting the wobble of a chuckle he could feel in his throat -- swiping a bit of stickiness off John’s chin with his thumb. “Right, there.”
John blinked, then let out a laugh before catching Gale’s wrist in his hand. Without breaking eye contact, he brought Gale’s thumb to his mouth and cleaned it off, closing his lips around the tip just long enough for Gale’s face to flush.
The corner of his mouth twitched as he let his hand drop.
“C’mon,” John said, nudging him toward the shower with a gentle press of fingers at his hip. “‘s bad to waste water.”