Page 21 of The Barn: Frost and Q

“Absolutely.” Frost said it before he could mention they lived on an island off Juneau… But there weren’t a lot of tourists in the place right now, so why the hell not?

They got seated, and they ordered a couple of beers. The hotel had a free, accessible shuttle, so they didn’t have to worry about getting back, which was kind of awesome. And Frost had gotten him an accessible room, so he could just roll right to bed…

“So what did you think of Yukon?” Quentin knew the answer.

He just wanted to hear it again. After all, they were picking him up tomorrow and taking him home.

The big goofy bundle of joy was like a giant marshmallow with an expression of pure happiness on its face.

Q was in love. Like deep, eternal doggy love.

“I think he’s gigantic. I think people are going to think he’s a polar bear. I think we better find some tall people to walk him, and I think he’s perfect, so…”

“Right? Me too. I don’t know, though. I think we should get some teeny tiny people to walk him, like the eighty-pound, bullies kick sand in your face kind of guys, and we can watch them fly around the yard with Yukon dragging them behind him.

” It was mean but amusing, and since it wasn’t actually going to happen, it was even funnier.

Quentin opened up his menu to give the food a look-see. “Oh, God, I do love it here. What are you going to have?”

He was thinking chowder, black cod curry, and cheesecake. Maybe a nice stout.

“I want a steak—a big steak the size of my head.” Frost actually licked his lips. “I think I’m going to do the pork belly bites too.”

That sounded good. “Want to share? I’ll share bites of my soup…”

“Sure, that sounds great.” Frost beamed at him, reached under the table to take his hand. “Thank you for this.”

He didn’t pretend to not know what Frost was talking about. “You deserve it, to know that I’m trying, that I’m willing.”

He wasn’t scared to go out. It had just been easier to stay in and to not think about things.

Actually, what had been easier was not to think about Frost.

“I can see that you’re trying. I know that this has got to be scary.”

He shrugged and shook his head immediately.

“No. Letting you in was scary. Mainly because I didn’t think you could get beyond everything—the guilt.

So, letting you in and believing in you, trusting that you loved me enough to figure it out?

That was scary. This today is just learning something new, and really, I haven’t learned a whole lot new.

I mean, this place is very accessible, and it’s not like I can’t get up and walk in an emergency.

You know, I might fall a lot, but if I have to scramble across the room, I can.

This is just…less stressful. It wigs people out when I fall. ”

“Yes, it fucks me up when you fall. I hate it. Every time you go over, I think, ‘Oh my God, is he hurt?’ But you never are.”

Q shook his head. “No, I’m strong.” And lucky and special and here. “And I want a beer. I want to have a beer with you at a restaurant like a grownup.”

“We could even have two since we’re not driving,” Frost suggested, and he nodded.

“Yeah, but I think we should stop at two, because I want to, you know?” He waggled his eyebrows at his husband. “Not be drunk.”

Frost leaned back, an utterly satisfied grin crossing his face. “Okay. Right. Two it is. Or maybe a beer now, and then a glass of something decadent after.”

“Oh, like a nightcap? All right.” He did love a fancy nightcap.

“Yeah. We could even get that at the bar at the hotel and take it upstairs.”

The waiter came over, a cute little twink with a mass of bright red curls and skin the color of milk. “Good evening. I’m Josh. I’m going to be your waiter?”

Was that a question? “Cool, I would like to start with a glass of water and a stout, please.”

Frost chuckled softly. “I’ll take the Denali Single Engine Red, please.”

“Yes, Sir. I mean, you got it. I mean, I’ll be right back.” The little thing scampered off, and Q was just amused as hell.

“If Carson saw him, he would explode in sparkly joy.”

“Right?” Frost licked his lips. “That might be the one that Carson falls in love with forever. Like forever.”

“Can you imagine trying to explain to him what Carson did for a living. What we do for a living?”

Frost shook his head. “No no no. Carson can do it. I need Carson to do it.”

“Maybe we could ask him if he’d like to apply for a personal assistant’s job.”

Frost pointed a finger at him. “Do not tempt me.”

Q shrugged one shoulder, going for nonchalant. “We could have Carson do the interviews. I could run the background checks.”

“You are evil. And brilliant. No wonder I adore you.”

He waited till the little guy walked back up to them before he said, “And I thought it was the hot sex.”

The kid blushed until his face matched his hair, but he also wiggled. Straight up wiggled.

“So, Josh, are you from here in Ketchikan?”

“Uh, no. No, I’m from Oregon. I came up here to do a nature study for my degree, and then I just stayed.” Those eyes were wide and a little worried.

“Neat.” He winked at Frost. “Well, I think we’re ready.”

“Perfect. What can I get you?”

They ordered, with Frost adding the halibut ceviche to share as well.

His man might say he wanted a steak, but he loved his fish, too.

Sweet little Josh stammered every time one of them looked at him, which was adorable instead of annoying, and by the time they got to the dessert, which was a cheesecake with cheesecake flavored mousse they got to take back to the hotel, he was utterly convinced that Josh needed to come work for them.

So he handed Josh a card with the debit card they used to pay the bill.

“If you’re not set on Ketchikan, Josh, I’m hiring some assistants for the private club we co-own.

Four or five guys who aren’t afraid of same-sex couples, and who like to walk great big dogs and run a bunch of errands. It’s an island off Juneau.”

“Wow. Wow! For real?”

“Yep. Call that number tomorrow and we’ll set you up for an interview if you’re interested. And we’ll either fly you down or pay for the ferry.”

“That’s amazing. And you guys seem nice. Not like serial killers or anything.”

He snorted. “That takes way too much energy, hon.”

“Right.” Josh beamed at them. “I’ll totally call. Let me get your bill run.” He headed off, a pep to his step.

“You just made his year, baby,” Frost told him, holding his hand on top of the table.

“We’ll see how he feels when he gets to the club.”

“Want to make a bet?” Frost asked.

“No.” Frost never bet on anything unless he thought it was a sure thing.

They grabbed a drink at the pub in the hotel to take up with dessert, and they managed to get it all in the tiny elevator that was just for folks like him.

They got up to the room, and Frost locked them in, grinning as he toed off his boots. “Mmmm. Damn, baby boy. That was a fine thing.”

“The meal? Or Josh?” he teased.

“Oh, baby, Josh isn’t my type. Way too shy and accommodating.”

“Oh, man, listen to you.” He snorted. “Maybe I’ll just watch a movie.”

“Oh, I was thinking we should take a shower and let supper digest a little before we got acrobatic.” Frost’s eyebrows went up and down.

“That sounds great.” He’d seen a little shower seat, and it was a roll-in shower. Not that he was going to take his chair in there, but he didn’t have to worry about Frost holding him up. His hubs had really tried to think of everything on this trip.

He’d see how it went wrangling a giant lovebug dog on the way home tomorrow. Though, when he was told he was working, Yukon was pretty well-behaved. The trainers he’d been fostering with thought the club would be perfect for him, because he and Quentin could learn a lot of shit together.

And that, somehow, worked with his control freak tendencies.

“Cool. Want to just sit a minute?” Frost knelt down to take Quentin’s shoes off.

“Yeah. Getting back here was some work.” He was used to just his rooms, maybe dinner downstairs once a month, and PT. This had been wonderful, but he had to admit, he’d been nodding off over his curry just a little.

“No worries, baby. Just get up here and we’ll snuggle.”

“Mmm.” That really sounded like the best thing right now. He took off his outer henley and his belt, and he crawled up on the bed, Frost catching him when he might have pitched right over.

“Gotcha.” Frost got him all snuggled up, and they did turn on the TV, just low, the light and droning noise relaxing. “So, what are you looking forward to most?”

“About what? Yukon? Or the assistant hunt?”

“Both.” Frost ran a hand up and down his back.

“Well, with Yukon, I’m looking forward to training him, to having that new layer of confidence, and to the company when you go work.” He glanced up, glad to see Frost was smiling, not frowning. “With the assistants, I can’t wait for them to make Boone, Tug, and Carson nuts.”

“I hear that. Because they’ll be on the payroll, so that will make Carson insane.”

“It will.” He chortled. “And what do you bet Boone gets a dog?”

“That’s a sucker bet. I wouldn’t be surprised if Boone didn’t have a dog there right now, now that he knows what the plan is. The fact is, Boone is a man in need of a dog.”

“Like purse dog?” he asked, tickled shitless.

“Nah, that’s Tug.” Frost chuckled softly. “Tug is totally the purse dog type—I’m talking miniature dachshund or Chihuahua. Something that suits his size. But Boone? Boone needs, like, a Saint Bernard.”

His eyes lit up, because of course Boone did. “Oh, you are brilliant. We could totally get him a Saint Bernard. I think there was one at the shelter…”

“I think we should let him pick out his own dog, baby boy. I’m just saying if we happen to send a picture of the Saint Bernard over to him, and he happened to see it and want to go get him? That would be okay, but we still have to hire assistants.”

“We have one,” he pointed out.

“We have one possibility.”

Details, details. “Yeah, but he’s a cute possibility. Somebody’s going to snap him up and beat him and make him the happiest.”

Frost’s laughter shook his whole body. “Then you’d have to hire somebody else, so don’t you go there.”

Quentin chuckled softly, snuggling in. “You’re a bastard. You know that, right?”

Frost nodded. “I do. That’s why I wouldn’t sign the divorce papers.”

Sure, that was why. “I threw them in the fire.”

“You did, huh?” That got Frost’s attention.

“Yep. I never wanted to get divorced. I just wanted you to be able to let go of all the bullshit. I just wanted you to look at me like you’re looking at me right now and not just see that poor fucked-up guy in the hospital.”

“Oh, babe, I wasn’t seeing somebody fucked up. I was just… I felt so bad that I wasn’t able to fix it and that I couldn’t even stop it.”

“It sucked.” He looked up and met Frost’s eyes. “I don’t remember much of it. I think I remember him grabbing me on a run, but maybe I just remember being told that. I’m sure I was scared. Possibly just pissed off. I’m sure it was worse for you because you do remember it.”

Frost winced. “I remember it all.”

“I remember, I think, going for a run? And I remember waking up in the hospital. That’s it. Everything else I just know because I was told.”

“It killed me. We saw it, the shot. We were making the switch. I was going to give him his fucking money. I didn’t care if you and I had to live in an efficiency apartment for the rest of our fricking lives. I didn’t care. It didn’t matter.”

“You do realize that I probably aggravated him so much that he had to shoot me?” It had to be said. It just had to.

“You know, that thought has occurred to me, yes.” Frost grinned.

“In fact, that is exactly what Carson said when you woke up. Once we knew you were going to be you. That’s what I was worried about.

That’s what I was scared of. I give no shits about whether or not you could walk.

I mean, I do. I hate that you can’t do everything you used to do and that that son of a bitch took that from you.

But the important parts of you are all functional.

Oh my God, I kind of need that more than life.

I need you, Quentin, and I’ve never been so glad for anything when you opened your eyes and said, ‘ Motherfucker, my throat hurts’. ”

“We don’t live normal lives.” So many things could happen, and they didn’t live lives that were quiet.

His was quieter than it had been, but really.

They were adrenaline junkies, and they lived like their asses were on fire.

It was a thing. And they had to just deal with it, know that that’s how it was with each other.

“No, no, we live extraordinary lives. I’m just glad you’re here with me.”

“Ditto, cabbagehead.” He lifted his face for a kiss. “Thank you for today; it’s been perfect.”

“Yeah, it really has. We’re getting a dog.”

“What’s this we shit? I got a mouse in my pocket? I’m getting a dog. You are not getting a dog. You have to get your own dog.”

“It’s going to let me share. I have faith.”

Q snorted softly. “I’m going to teach him to bite you in the butt every time you aggravate me.”

Frost started tickling him, and they cracked up, both of them snuggling in close, rolling on the bed.

It really had been a perfect day.

And even better, tomorrow they got a dog.