Page 96 of Rebound

“You know, if you didn’t have such a thick dick, I could probably go again.”

He arched a brow. “Is that really what you’d prefer?”

“Absolutely not.” Ben bent over, swaying his ass in Thomas’s face, and turned the shower on. Ben checked the temperature and stepped under the spray, gesturing for Thomas to join him.

The shower went easy enough, with roaming hands that distracted without derailing, and then they were clean and rinsed, dry and dressed. Thomas made them both coffee and Ben fried a couple eggs. The ease with which Ben already moved around his space did something else to the feeling in his chest and he reached into his pocket, fingers tracing over the sharp edges of the key.

“Ben.” He switched off the coffee pot and turned, key cutting dangerously into his palm.

“Yeah?” Ben glanced quickly at him, offering him a double take when he caught Thomas’s apparently serious expression. “Oh, no. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he said quickly, fist tightening around the key. “Nothing. I promise.”

“Okay…”

“I fully…I just…I’m happy you want to make your space yours.” He cleared his throat and pulled his hand out of his pocket, spinning the key so it became apparent what he held. “But I wouldn’t mind if you also wanted to make part of my space yours too.”

“Thomas.”

“I’m not asking you to move it, so don’t…” He groaned and inhaled, trying to get himself back on track. “I want you to be here whenever you want to be here. I want you to be comfortable here.”

Ben held out his hand, palm up, and he dropped the key. They both looked at it, like it was magical or unexpected, and then Ben closed his fist around it so tightly his knuckles turned white.

“Thank you,” Ben whispered.

Behind him, the pan popped and sizzled, shaking Thomas out of the moment.

“The eggs are burning,” he said.

“Eggs don’t burn.” Ben shoved the pan onto the back burner and turned off the stove, eyes still on his closed fist. “You really want me to have a key?”

“I’ll even clean out a dresser drawer for you. Some space in the closet.”

“Are you sure?” Ben opened his fist, one finger at a time, staring down at the key in his hand and the lines it had cut into his palm.

“Very.”

“I love you.” Ben closed the space between them and smashed their lips together, his hand and the key pressed between their bodies.

“I love you.”

“I’ll get you a key too,” Ben said. “To my place.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I want things to be equal between us.”

Thomas closed Ben’s fingers back around the key and kissed his knuckles. “I know you do. But I’m comfortable in my space and, because of that, I’m ready to share it. You…you’re still learning how to lean into that. It’s important to me that you have the opportunity to make your space yours before we make it ours.”

Ben exhaled loudly, enough of a protestation without any words to follow.

“You can give me a key if you want me to have it,” he added with a lopsided grin. “But I’m not going to use it until you’re ready.”

“You’re stubborn.”

“I know.” He stepped back, reaching for his forgotten coffee and taking a drink while he eyed Ben over the brim of the mug. “So what color scheme are you thinking?”

“I like the darks you have here.” Ben placed the key into his pocket and then reached around him for the second mug of coffee. He cleared his throat and plated the eggs, which had long gone cold. Thomas carried the plates to the table anyway, sitting down and waiting for Ben to join him.