Chapter Text
Sebastian glanced at his phone as it vibrated on the desk next to him at work.
He couldn’t hear it with his headphones on, the music he was listening to was far too loud to actually let any other noise through, but it was moving slightly as it vibrated and it caught his attention.
There was a number on the screen, no contact name or anything attached to it, just a number. And this was around the seventeenth time in the past two days that this number had called him.
He turned his eyes away from his phone and looked back at the computer screen, continuing the extremely slow process of looking for one singular point of clipping error that had been reported, and let the call go to voicemail.
Again.
And when he tapped the screen of his phone a few minutes later, he could see that whoever it was hadn’t left a message.
Again.
So it was either a wrong number that wasn’t listening to his ‘Hey this is Sebastian’ voicemail greeting, or it was an incredibly persistent scammer who was stuck on his number.
Either way, Sebastian flicked the phone away with his fingers and went back to work.
An hour later it rang again from the same number. Then twenty minutes after that, it happened again.
When it rang a third time ten minutes after that Sebastian actually took his headphones off and listened to it ring while giving it a very uncertain look.
He let it ring out again and listened to the popcorn ping noise that meant the call was being sent to voicemail, but once again whoever it was didn’t leave a message.
If they call back again, I’ll answer. He thought to himself, keeping one hand on his headphones around his neck as he looked at his phone, but when ten minutes had passed and it didn’t ring again, he put them back over his ears and went back to work.
“Have you tried googling the number?” Cole, his boyfriend, asked him later that evening.
They had both come to Sebastian’s apartment when they were done work and were tangled in the sheets of his bed, just chatting about their respective days in a very comfortable and familiar afterglow. Sebastian had told him about the number that kept calling him and Cole had latched onto the subject with interest.
“Yeah. Nothing comes up.” Sebastian said, shaking his head as he stretched his arms up over his head with a half groan. “Pretty sure it’s a wrong number.”
“Maybe a girl gave some creepy guy in a bar a random number and said it was hers and now you’re getting desperate calls from him.” Cole said, reaching over to slide his hand up Sebastian’s side, his eyes roaming over his bare torso appreciatively as he stretched.
Sebastian chuckled, then smiled and shifted to turn onto his side facing Cole. “I hadn’t thought of that. If they call again I’ll answer.”
“At this point you might as well.” Cole said, then shifted forward and leaned in to press a kiss to Sebastian’s lips.
He held there for a long time, then pulled back slowly, dragging his teeth against Sebastian’s lower lip and making a low noise of enjoyment. “I gotta go.” He said once they had fully broken apart.
Sebastian wrinkled his nose a bit and sat up when Cole slid out of bed. “Again? You haven’t stayed over in two weeks.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
Cole didn’t say anything else or offer an explanation. He just grimaced as he pulled his clothes back on.
“Is something wrong?”
Sebastian hated himself for asking that particular question. He especially hated the way his voice sounded when he did. Slightly uncertain. Vulnerable. Needy in a way that was personal and emotional.
He wished he could take it back the second the words left his lips because that wasn’t the way he was, or how he wanted to be a year into this relationship. He felt demanding and petulant and kind of stupid...
Sebastian just… He just felt like…
He shoved all of that bullshit down hard before anything could grab hold of him and squeeze him so tightly he couldn’t breathe.
“No. Of course not… Work has been an absolute shit show lately.” Cole pulled his shirt on, but rather than button it, he slid onto the bed on his knees and moved across to Sebastian. He curved both hands against his jaw, tilting his head up so he could look down at him as he spoke. “And you are an insane distraction. Which I adore, but is kind of a problem when things get ridiculous at work.”
Sebastian smiled faintly, and he tipped his head in to kiss Cole back when he brought their lips together.
“Things will slow down in a month or so. If your schedule allows for it, maybe we can plan a trip or something. Your friend Abigail is always asking you to visit. That might be for us to do together.”
”Yeah… That sounds good.” Sebastian forced himself to smile a little more, then got up to pull his boxers on as he saw Cole to the door.
“Talk tomorrow.” Cole said, pressing several slow and very full kisses to Sebastian’s lips. “Sleep well.”
“You too.” Sebastian said, still with the forced smile on his face until he closed and locked the door behind Cole.
After that he let it drop away into not really a scowl, but not quite an impassive expression either, and he went into his bedroom to yank the sheets off his bed and replace them with clean ones.
He had just closed the lid on the washing machine he had stuffed the dirty sheets into when his phone started to ring, and he walked back through the apartment to where he had left it on his nightstand.
It was the mystery number again, and this time Sebastian picked up his phone and hit the button to answer it.
“Hello?”
There was silence for a few seconds, and Sebastian was just about to say that whatever girl had given this number out, it wasn’t really hers, when a voice spoke on the other end.
“…Sebastian?”
Sebastian startled a bit, not expecting whoever was calling to actually address him by name. “Uhh… Yeah? Who is this?”
“Sorry… Just… I’d basically given up on this being your number after calling so many times and not getting an answer and… Shit, sorry. This is Alex. Mullner. From… from home?”
Sebastian didn’t say anything, and the silence stretched to the point where he heard Alex cough and shift on the other end of the line in obvious discomfort.
“You still there?”
“Yeah. Yes. You just really caught me off guard.” The words came out of Sebastian’s mouth a little bit stilted and uncertain. Because of anyone he had thought might be calling him, Alex Mullner certainly wasn’t a name that had crossed his mind.
“You probably weren’t expecting to hear from me, like, ever... I had to beg for your number from Sam. His mom gives his number out to anyone who asks, apparently. Your mom does not.”
Sebastian snorted softly and then sat down on the edge of his bed. “She knows I’d be pretty pissed if she did. What’s so important that you needed to go to so much trouble to track my number down? And then call me like twenty times… And never leave a message. You could have left a message.”
“I didn’t think you’d call me back if I did. Or answer any other calls once you knew it was me.”
Sebastian turned his eyes up in a half roll as he shifted back a bit on his bed. “I’m not that juvenile, Alex.”
“I just thought you might still…”
“Hate you? I’m 34, Alex, not a teenager. I’m not interested in carrying baggage from high school around. I’m not going around counting you as a friend, but if I had known it was you calling me, I would have picked up the first time. And if you’d left a message, I would have called you back.”
“That’s… That’s good to know… Uh… Sorry for assuming…”
“What is it you want?” Sebastian asked, brushing past the apology that really wasn’t needed or wanted, which also let him skirt around a precariously balanced amount of ‘baggage’ he had just claimed he was uninterested in carrying around.
“So. My dad died.”
Sebastian startled at that, furrowing his brow as he turned his eyes to the side. “I thought that he was… Shit. Never mind.”
“That he was already dead?” Alex finished Sebastian’s thought, then weirdly chuckled at the end. “You and me both. But that’s a whole other story. He wasn’t dead, but now he is, and he’s left kind of a crazy will. And I… I was wondering if you’d mind getting together with me and having a look at it?”
“You… What??”
Sebastian got up from where he was sitting and went out to the living room where his cigarettes were. He lit one and then sat down on the couch as he tried to make sense of what Alex had just said.
“I’d like you to look at the will with me.” Alex said again.
“Why?” Sebastian asked, exhaling a breath of smoke as he scrunched his face in confusion. “Why the hell do you need me there to look at your dad’s will with you? I barely even remember him. He likely wouldn’t have been able to look at me and know my name.”
“It’s hard to explain, and I really don’t want to do it over the phone. Could we please get together? At a coffee place or something, you don’t have to have me in your house or come to mine.”
Sebastian took another drag from his cigarette, holding the smoke in his lungs for a few seconds before he exhaled it in a slow stream. It didn’t make sense… But he had to admit that he was sort of curious.
Alex had purposefully and pointedly tracked down his number and called him repeatedly until he finally picked up. Even though Sebastian thought there was absolutely no purpose to him seeing this will, Alex seemed to think there was.
It wouldn’t really hurt anything to find out what was actually going on.
“I could leave work after a meeting tomorrow afternoon and be at the Starbucks on sixth avenue around 4. Take it or leave it.” Sebastian stubbed out what was left of his cigarette and listened to Alex exhale a long breath.
“I can make that work. Thank you.”
Sebastian didn’t say goodbye, he just hung up and immediately opened his texts to send one to Cole.
Sebastian- Mystery number called again just after you left and I answered. It’s a guy from my hometown who I went to school with. His dad died, and he said he left a weird will and he wants me to have a look at it with him. Fucking random.
Sebastian sent the text and then opened DoorDash to order a pizza. He was just contemplating getting up and taking a shower before the pizza arrived when a reply from Cole came in.
Cole- That is really fucking random. Was he a friend of yours?
Sebastian- Not even close. Sort of a classic homophobic jock bully who made my life hell. I haven’t seen him since the summer before college.
Cole- And he wants YOU to look at the will with him? That’s past random and verging into weird. What did you say?
Sebastian- I’m too nosey to say no… I said I’d meet him at Starbucks tomorrow at 4. Mistake?
Sebastian watched his phone, but his message sat saying ‘Delivered’ but didn’t change to ‘Read’. After a bit he got up and took a shower and put on comfortable clothes.
He got his pizza, and ate while watching TV before eventually forcing himself to brush his teeth and get ready for bed.
It was well after midnight when he settled and turned off his light, but Cole still hadn’t read his last text.
He hated how much that actually bothered him.
Cole eventually texted him back the next day, but Sebastian barely had time to glance at the reply when it came in while he was in a morning meeting, and honestly he forgot about it entirely after that. Which was probably a double standard when he had been so pissed the night before when Cole didn’t reply to him.
It wasn’t until he was leaving the afternoon meeting and going back to his office for his coat that he thought about it again and took out his phone to read it properly.
Cole- I don’t think it’s a mistake. Just be careful, I guess. If the guy was nasty to you in high school he might still be trying to pull something.
Sebastian- We aren’t teenagers anymore. I can’t see myself getting too worked up over him calling me a ‘pansy’. Besides, from what I’ve heard, he’s actually gay himself. Which makes the bullying in high school just that much more on point.
Sebastian pulled his coat on and shoved his phone into one pocket as he picked up his messenger bag and slung it over his shoulder. He was going to be a little bit late to meet Alex, but he didn’t really care that much. If he couldn’t wait an extra ten minutes, then it really wasn’t that important after all.
By the time he had parked and walked into Starbucks, it was actually an extra fifteen minutes, but Sebastian still went directly to the counter and ordered a drink. While he stood to the side and waited, he texted Cole back again after hearing his phone chime while he was driving.
Cole- Still. Be careful. And tell me how it goes because now I’m really curious as well.
Sebastian- I’m at Starbucks now. I’ll text you when I’m done. ;)
Another five minutes passed while his drink was made, and when they called out his name he picked it up, and only then turned to scan the tables to see if he could recognize Alex.
It didn’t take much. Because there was one guy looking straight at him with an expression of surprise, and Sebastian guessed that Alex, because who else could it be, had looked up when the barista called his name out.
Alex looked… Different… But Sebastian supposed that was to be expected since it had been sixteen years since they had seen each other. His eyes were the same deep green, and he still looked very broad and strong, though not in the same super bulky way he had going on in high school. But his eyes seemed softer, his expression less intense. And without the bulk of muscle he had in high school, he just looked fit and athletic.
Sebastian headed in that direction, watching Alex, who had continued looking at him as he got closer
“Alex, I’m guessing?” Sebastian said as he stopped next to the table Alex was sitting at.
Alex just stared at him in silence, looking up at him like he was trying to make sense of what he was seeing. He stayed quiet long enough that Sebastian raised the hand that wasn’t holding his cup of coffee and waved it a couple of times. “You going to talk, or…?”
Alex gave his head a shake and exhaled a hard breath as Sebastian waved at him. “Shit. Yeah, sorry. I was just… You look really different. I saw you walk in, but I didn’t think it was you, so when they called out your name and…”
Alex trailed off, and Sebastian quirked one side of his mouth up a bit. “I didn’t think I looked that different.”
He slid down into the chair opposite Alex, setting his coffee cup down on the table. “You’ve changed as well, but we haven’t seen each other since we were eighteen, so I expected it.”
“I didn’t think you’d be exactly the same or anything… But you look so different… You’re taller. And your shoulders are broader... And your hair…”
Sebastian turned his eyes to the side a bit as he reached to the back of his head and ran his hand over the tail of hair he had yanked the long strands up into that morning. It was how he wore it most often at work to keep it out of the way, and he hadn’t thought twice about how Alex would have remembered him with the side cut. He wouldn’t have known that he had grown it out in his twenties and kept it like that.
“Sorry.” Alex said when Sebastian didn’t reply. “I didn’t mean to… Never mind. I’ll just get to the point, maybe?”
“Definitely.” Sebastian said, trying not to shift uncomfortably as he turned his attention fully back to Alex, who laid a folder on the table between them and started leafing through it.
“A lot of this doesn’t matter… It’s the terms he’s left for me to claim the inheritance that I’m most concerned about.”
Sebastian watched Alex flip through the document, then leaned in to read where he pointed, squinting a bit at first before giving in and fishing his glasses out of his pocket to slide onto his face.
He read silently, then frowned and read it again before he raised his eyes to look at Alex over the top of his glasses. “You have to be married by the time you turn 35.”
“Yes.”
“Are you married?”
Alex shook his head, holding his left hand up a bit so Sebastian could see there wasn’t a ring on his finger. “I am not.”
“Are you dating someone you could conceivably ask to marry you?”
Alex shook his head again, and Sebastian watched as colour came to his cheeks as he did.
“So that means you have…” Sebastian turned his eyes to the side as he quickly counted how many months were left before Alex’s birthday. “Just over six months.”
Alex nodded once, then exhaled a low breath. “I’m not in a good position for this.”
Sebastian sat back as he looked at Alex and thought about what all this meant. “Can he actually make a stipulation like that?”
“Apparently so. I asked several lawyers, and they all said he could put whatever he wanted in his will. He could say I could only claim it if I went to the moon, and that would still be legal.”
“Shit.” Sebastian rubbed one hand against his cheek and then dropped it down into his lap.
Alex nodded a few times, then sighed out a low breath. “The thing is, I couldn’t care less about his money. It’s a lot, but I don’t really... want it. From him. But…”
Alex leaned forward and tapped further down the page. “This is who gets it if I don’t claim it.”
Sebastian looked down again and read through the named ‘charity’ that would receive the totality of the inheritance if Alex couldn’t meet the requirements.
He read it three times, getting madder each time before he cut his eyes back up to Alex.
“…Are you fucking serious? A ‘conversion therapy centre’? Your dad is going to donate all of his money to them if you can’t claim it??”
Alex nodded, his eyes turning down as his hands fidgeted with the edge of the folder. “My dad wasn’t a good guy, Sebastian. I didn’t realize until it was too late just how horrible he was, though.”
Sebastian frowned and tilted his head slightly. “What do you mean?”
Alex stayed silent for a few moments, then exhaled a low breath through his nose as he turned his eyes back to Sebastian’s face. “I was still in touch with him through middle school and most of high school. Sporadically, but we kept in touch. He’d call every so often, and we’d talk and catch up. He fuelled a lot of the rhetoric I had in high school. Being a bully and homophobic and trying to stomp on everyone that was, by his definition, weak. Or not ‘normal’. It intensified when I started questioning my own sexuality because up to that point I thought his and my ‘shared values’ might be what brought him back into my life permanently…”
Alex paused there, wrinkling his nose a bit and shaking his head. “I know that I shouldn’t have wanted him in my life at all, but I didn’t realize just how bad what he believed was. Or how bad of a person he was, just in general. He was my dad, and there wasn’t anything I wanted more than to have him actually want to be part of my everyday life.”
Sebastian nodded a bit, a little uncomfortable with the topic that skirted dangerously close to his and Alex’s past and what all of that had been.
He really wanted to be nowhere near that fucking pitfall.
“So… What happened?” He asked, raising his eyebrows and trying to urge the conversation forward and away from this particular section of life.
“I eventually realized that I really was gay, that it wasn’t a choice, and that there was nothing wrong with it. I started arguing with him about his beliefs and, in a fit of anger, I told him that I was gay and that I was proud of it. He hung up on me, and I never heard from him again. Shortly after that, my grandfather told me he died. Which circulated around town.”
“But he… he hadn’t actually died?” Sebastian said slightly haltingly and uncertainly.
“No. But I don’t want to get into that.”
Alex’s voice was firm, and Sebastian could guess for himself what had happened with his dad. That he had found out Alex was gay and decided that pretending he was dead so he wouldn’t have to keep talking to him was better than actually dealing with him.
Utter bullshit. He was an absolute fucking asshole for that.
No matter what kind of bully Alex had been, he didn’t deserve his dad pretending to be dead to avoid having anything to do with him.
After the silence stretched a bit, Alex cleared his throat and continued. “I’m sure he kept tabs on me, and he kept the will updated. It’s been amended almost every year to adjust my age, always giving me that year or less to be married in or I forfeit the inheritance. Like I said, I really don’t give a shit about getting his money for myself. I just don’t want it going to his chosen… benefactor… if I don’t claim it.”
Sebastian nodded slowly, totally understanding the way Alex was thinking about it, but…
“Why did you want me to see this?” He asked, shifting a bit as he took his glasses off and held them in one hand as he looked at Alex curiously.
Alex raked his teeth over his lower lip and then exhaled a low breath. He folded his arms on the table as he looked at Sebastian with a mixture of hope and something that honestly looked like fear.
“I wanted to know if you might be open to marrying me. Just long enough to claim the inheritance, of course.”
Sebastian blinked a couple of times, the words just sort of glossing over him at first before slowly sinking into him with a growing amount of horror.
“You… You’re joking. Right? You have to be joking.”
Alex just looked at him, then shook his head. “I’m not.”
“That’s ridiculous. Just the idea in general, let alone asking me of all people. Did you really think I’d jump at the chance?”
“Honestly?“ Alex raised his eyebrows and then shook his head. “No. I thought you’d react exactly the way you are right now. But I needed to actually ask. Just in case there was some possibly way you might agree. Because I really would agree to almost anything, Sebastian. And it goes without saying that half of the money from my dad would be yours right after all the legal stuff was done and we could divorce. Name your terms and I’ll follow them… I’m…”
Alex trailed off, and Sebastian watched about a dozen different emotions march across his face all at once. And admittedly that did tug at his heart ever so faintly to see.
“I’m desperate. I need someone I can trust.”
“And you trust me?”
“I do.”
“Why? We’ve never been friends. We’ve never gotten along. There’s no reason for you to turn to me with this.”
Alex passed a hand through his hair, then exhaled a low breath as he looked away from Sebastian, then back to him again. “I just know that of anyone, I can trust you. Our not being friends or not getting along doesn’t mean you aren’t trustworthy.”
It was a fair point. And there was a part of Sebastian who was kind of flattered that Alex trusted him, but at the same time…
“I wouldn’t do this. It’s absolutely insane to ask me to do this. And I’m dating someone, I can’t just… end that and marry you for six months.”
Alex’s eyes went wide as a look of shock filled his face, followed almost immediately by an extremely apologetic expression as he leaned forward a bit.
“I’m so sorry.” He said, shaking his head. “I asked Sam if you were in a relationship, and he laughed and said ‘of course not’. I never would have called you, let alone ask you to come here today and set this on you if I’d known…”
Sebastian raised one hand and shook his head a bit as he exhaled a low breath. “It’s okay, Alex. Really. Sam is just… I mean, he’s married and has kids and all of that. I told him that I was dating someone, but he really only absorbs half of whatever is said to him.”
“Still… I should have asked you for myself. Before I dragged you through all of this mess.”
Sebastian smiled a bit, then reflexively reached out and patted his hand against Alex’s forearm. “It’s really okay. You didn’t know, and it was perfectly reasonable for you to think that Sam would know what was going on in my life. He always has before.”
Alex nodded and moved his free hand to cover over Sebastian’s on his arm. For a couple of seconds he rested it there, incredibly warm and rather large over Sebastian’s much more slender hand, then he took it off again and Sebastian quickly withdrew his own hand as well. He hadn’t exactly been prepared for that touch.
“I… I hope that… you can find someone who can help you with this,” Sebastian half stuttered the words and felt heat come into his cheeks over the fact that he was stuttering.
“Thank you.” Alex said, smiling at him, though his eyes, which Sebastian was quickly noticing, seemed to broadcast his emotions, looked rather curious. “I appreciate your agreeing to meet with me at all. It was nice to see you again. It’s been a really long time.”
Sebastian nodded, then put his glasses into his pocket before he picked up his coffee and slid out of his chair. “It was nice to see you, too. I really do hope this works out.”
“Thank you. Take care, Sebastian.”
“You too, Alex.”
Sebastian raised one hand in a half wave before he turned to walk out of the Starbucks, already taking his phone out to call Cole and see if he wanted to come over that night and hear about what had just happened.
**********
“Oh fuck, Sebastian… That’s so fucking good… Nnn…”
Sebastian made a low noise, sliding his hands further over Cole’s hips as he plunged his mouth down over his cock over and over again. He sucked in hard, creating as much suction as he could, which always drove Cole absolutely fucking crazy.
“No one sucks cock like you do… No one could ever fucking compare with your mouth and your tongue…”
Cole was particularly vocal that evening and seemed far more worked up than normal, despite the fact that they had just been together the night before.
Not that Sebastian was complaining… He liked it when Cole talked a lot and when he really got into it. When his hands plunged into his hair and fisted in the long strands and he groaned and swore and all of that.
But all of that also came with a small smattering of things that Sebastian wasn’t as keen on, and as if on cue he felt Cole’s hands tighten further in his hair and his grip turned absolutely rigid.
“Hold there… Nnnn… Fuuuuuuck yeah… Just hold there and lemme…”
Cole groaned as he held Sebastian’s head where it was, stopping him from moving as he started to thrust his hips up to drive his cock into Sebastian’s mouth on his own. He thrust in harder and harder, pushing deeper than Sebastian wanted him to in the position they were in.
He liked taking someone as deep as possible. He liked the feeling of someone pushing down into his throat, but there were better fucking angles to do it in that wouldn’t have the head of Cole’s cock slamming into the back of his throat uncomfortably and repeatedly.
He also really didn’t like having his head held still. The enjoyment he got from sucking cock came from being allowed to move and slide his mouth over someone and feel them out. Just having someone thrust into his mouth while holding his head in place took all of that away from him.
But Cole loved this… And he didn’t do it often because he knew that Sebastian wasn’t all that fond of it. Relationships were compromise, and Sebastian tried really hard not to be an asshole because he and Cole both were allowed to have their preferences indulged.
He really did hate this, though.
“Fuck… oh fuuuuuuck… I’m so fucking close. I’m… Oh fuck, Sebastian, yessss…. FUCK!!”
Cole grated out a hard noise and thrust forward particularly hard into Sebastian’s mouth as he came, his cock flexing roughly as he spilled thick and heavy right at the back of Sebastian’s throat, and he knew from experience not to try swallowing yet. He would absolutely choke if he did... He pushed his tongue up to block the slick of Cole’s cum from forcing down and waited until he had finished and had eased the pressure before he swallowed, teasing his tongue against Cole’s length still in his mouth until he pulled back with an overstimulated hiss.
Sebastian coughed. He hadn’t meant to, but it happened before he could help it, and Cole made a low noise, sliding his hands from his hair to his jaw, tilting Sebastian’s head back so he could look down at him and see him.
“Sorry… I know you don’t like that, I just… I kinda needed…”
Sebastian smiled, rubbing a hand over his mouth as he shook his head. “It’s fine. You know I don’t mind when you do it because it’s you and you really don’t do it often…”
Cole rubbed both of his thumbs against Sebastian’s cheeks, then moved to flop down onto the couch behind him with a half exhausted noise.
Sebastian got up and moved to slide down onto the couch next to him, exhaling a long breath and swallowing a couple of times against the ache in the back of his throat.
“I still can’t believe that Alex guy wanted you to marry him. That’s absolutely fucking insane.”
“I get why he was trying to find a way to do it. Kind of a noble cause to try to find a way to keep that money away from a conversion centre. I didn’t even know they still had those.”
“Unfortunately they very much dos till exist…” Cole rubbed a hand against his forehead, then turned to look at Sebastian with a smirk. “Half of that money would be awfully nice, though.” He chuckled a bit, resting back against the couch a little more as he slid his hand up the inside of Sebastian’s thigh, squeezing into the soft plush of it rather roughly. “It’s tempting to tell you to do it, and then we’d have a bunch of money to play around with.”
“Cole! That’s kinda gross.” Sebastian said, sliding his hand over the back of Cole’s on his thigh. “Not to mention dishonest.”
“What? It would only be for six months, and totally fake. And it’s not like Alex isn’t trying to find a way to be deceptive about getting the inheritance as well.”
“I know… But…” He trailed off, thinking about the sincerity and honesty in Alex’s eyes and the hurt that lay underneath when he talked about his dad and his beliefs and the fact that it would be an agenda he took past the grave.
It made it hard to think that anything Alex was doing was dishonest. Even if technically it was.
“I wouldn’t want to share you anyway.” Cole said, rousing Sebastian from his thoughts. “And if you spent six months fake married to the guy, there’s no way he wouldn’t be trying to get in your pants. You’re hot as fuck, and you’re mine.”
Sebastian ran his hands through his hair, settling the strands as he looked over at Cole out of the corner of his eye.
He didn’t like that possessiveness.
Not because he wasn’t committed to Cole, because he was, it just… Irked him to hear it said like that.
He enjoyed the concept of belonging to and with someone. He liked that feeling and that connection and everything that went with it. But having Cole say that he was ‘hot as fuck and his’ sort of made him feel like some pretty thing to be owned. Rather than a person.
Cole’s phone chimed once, then it did a second and third time in rapid succession, and Sebastian turned his eyes to look at it where it was sitting on the coffee table. He could see the text notifications come up on the lock screen, but not who they were from, and Cole leaned forward to grab it before he could see any closer.
“Shit.” Cole said as he unlocked his phone and read the texts, immediately getting to his feet. “I gotta go.”
“Everything okay?” Sebastian asked, frowning a bit as he got up and followed Cole to the door.
“Huh? Oh… Yeah, no, it’s fine, just… Work... Again...” Cole shoved his feet into his shoes as he pulled his coat on. He gave Sebastian an absent sort of fleeting kiss on the cheek and was gone before anything else could be said.
Sebastian stood and looked at the closed door for a minute, his heart flip flopping in his chest, and not in a good way. Then he sighed and turned his back to the door, making his way to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for bed.
It was kinda late anyway. Cole would have been leaving when they were done even if he hadn’t gotten texts about… Whatever it was.
Work.
He knew work was shit for Cole right then. Sebastian had gone through rough work patches with him before, so he knew he got like this. Constantly under pressure and working long hours and often having to jump and leave whatever he was doing to go and deal with some issue that just cropped up.
He could be understanding. Cole was always understanding when Sebastian was getting close to a deadline at work and had to put in absolutely insane hours to keep up.
But it was just another ‘thing’ lately that rubbed him the wrong way. Something that on its own he wouldn’t have batted an eyelash at, but when it was stacked against so much more it was hard not to find it truly irksome.
He stripped out of his clothes in the bathroom and turned the water on in the shower. While he washed his hair he couldn’t help his mind wandering all over the events of the day. Meeting Alex at Starbucks. Seeing him for the first time in sixteen years…
Alex had grown up to be really fucking hot. He had to admit that much. The shift in his body shape from bulky to just really fit while still being obviously strong… The breadth of his shoulders and chest, the warm tone of his skin…
Not to mention the openness of his expression. And there was a softness to him now that hadn’t existed before. A caring sort of nature that showed in how utterly horrified he seemed to be when he found out Sebastian was dating someone after asking if he’d consider marrying him to get through the legal bullshit. It was so… genuine.
And so different from the Alex he had grown up with.
Once he was done in the shower and had dried his hair, he walked around his apartment to turn off all the lights. He made sure the door was locked and his coffee was ready to go the next morning as well.
Then he got into bed and just lay there. Far too awake, and very much aware of why he was still awake, even though he really wanted to just ignore it and go to sleep.
Unfortunately… Even though the blowjob he had given wasn’t what he normally loved, it was still enough to wiggle under his skin and create a problem. A need. And Cole had left before they could do anything about it together.
With a noise of half annoyance, Sebastian leaned over to grab the box of tissues that was on the night table next to the bed and set it down next to him. He shoved the blankets down, and then the boxers he was wearing as well.
Once he had his boxers down far enough that he could still get his thighs apart a bit, he curled one hand around his already hard cock, and pressed the pads of two fingers of his other hand up behind his balls, rubbing into himself fairly hard while he stroked over himself, wanting to get this done as fast as he could.
He was annoyed that Cole had left so quickly. Really, if he was honest with himself, he was pretty fucking pissed, actually.
Annoyed because of his preoccupation with work right then. Annoyed that he had fucked his mouth while holding his head too tight. And annoyed that he’d said something that made Sebastian feel like property more than a person that he cared about.
But more than anything, he was just annoyed that even at 34 years old, he still needed to cum so fucking often just so he could go to fucking sleep.
He tried to ignore the annoyance, focusing instead on thinking about the feel of Cole’s cock in his mouth. The hard length of him pressed against his tongue, the rough flexes and twitches it gave when he was teased.
Mmmm… And the hands in his hair. Not when he was being held still, but just the tangle of fingers in the long strands. Needy and plaintive in the way they pushed against his scalp and tugged like they couldn’t get enough.
Big hands. Warm and strong hands… Pushed in his hair while the hips in front of him struggled not to push too hard but it was almost too fucking much and they were close to losing control while the hard cock sliding against his tongue strained to the point where it was probably painful.
And those warm fucking hands were on his head, fingers curling and blunt nails scraping against his scalp and…
…and a strong forearm where he rested his hand. And a big warm hand over his own smaller one… Resting there, covering over his cool skin completely… Enveloping his long fingers entirely and…
Sebastian’s hips jerked up as he tipped, and he swore repeatedly in hard pants of breath as his muscles flexed so hard it fucking hurt. Every pulse seemed to rip from him, and they just kept going as he stroked his hand over himself, cumming harder and longer than he had in a very, very long time…
Shit…
Shit. FUCK.
Even in the haze and fog of the end of his orgasm, Sebastian felt his cheeks absolutely flame at the realization of what he had been thinking about. What had started as Cole in his mind and then shifted to…
Stop. Just stop thinking about it. It was Cole. Of course it was Cole. Who else would it be?
Sebastian swallowed roughly, grabbing onto that firmer and pointed train of thought in his mind as he plucked tissues from the box to clean himself up.
By the time he finished and had gotten up to throw the tissues away, he was only thinking about Cole and his quick exit earlier.
Flopping back down in bed, he changed his alarm to fifteen minutes earlier (he’d have to shower in the morning before work after that…) and then sent a text to Cole.
Sebastian- Hey. Hope everything is okay. If there’s anything I can help with, call me okay? And let me know that you’re alright…
He settled on his side with his phone and scrolled aimlessly for an hour. Then another half an hour while trying to keep his eyes open.
Two hours after he sent the text, he was asleep with the phone still in his hand, but Cole hadn’t sent a reply.