Page 14

Sydney

JUSTIN

Axel picks me up in the evening. We’ve only been apart a couple of hours and already I’m missing him like crazy and wondering what he’s doing.

What he has been doing, is showering, shaving and dressing up for going out. If he’s dressed to impress, then he’s hit the mark. I’m totally salivating when I see him, and desperate to get my hands on him. Fuck, how can all this masculine perfection be mine? I don’t know. I’m nothing special; too young, too slim, too quiet, but for some strange reason that appeals to Axel and there’s no way I’m going to point out to him that he could do way better.

Of course, it’s always possible he’ll come to that realization himself eventually, but I don’t want to think about that.

When he comes to collect me, he’s careful not to stand too close or pay me too much attention, keeping it very definitely in the ‘friend zone’ while we’re within sight of my family. But once the car is away from the house, he pulls over, kills the engine and pulls me in for a scorching kiss.

As his tongue plunders my mouth, my hands are everywhere, sliding under his shirt, my fingers tingling as I touch his bare skin.

We’re both breathing heavily when we pull apart. Axel’s face is flushed and his pupils dilated.

“Can’t do this here,” Axel mutters. “I’m going to put my back out twisting like this.”

I bite my lip and cast a glance at the back seat. Axel shakes his head.

“No. I didn’t bring you here just for this. I want to go out with you. Movie first.”

“And after?”

“I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

Fifteen minutes later, we arrive at the movies and queue for our tickets. Axel refuses to let me pay my share.

“I invited you,” he says, “let me pay. Besides I’m working and you’re still a student.” And then he adds, speaking close to my ear so no-one else can hear, “And there’s no expectations, okay? I’m not expecting you to put out just because I paid, ever. Anything we do, I want it to be because you want to, not because you feel obligated.”

“Thanks, and yeah, I know.”

“Good. You can always say no, or stop me anytime, doesn’t matter what we’re doing, or how far we’ve gone.”

“Thank you for saying it, but I trust you. I don’t feel like we’re unequal or you’d push me into something I don’t want to do. Hell, you’re the one who keeps pulling back!”

“Yeah… it’s just the age thing,” Axel admits sheepishly. “I don’t want that to become a problem for us.”

“It won’t. I promise I’ll speak up if it does.”

Axel takes my hand as we walk into the darkened cinema. We find a couple of seats off by ourselves and settle in for the movie. We hold hands the whole two and a half hours, and there might be a few kisses exchanged, but we keep it PG and we do actually manage to watch the movie. Most of it, anyway.

The storyline is intriguing and the actors convincing, and afterwards we discuss the plot at length. We’re so wrapped up in our own little world that we don’t notice we’re the only ones still there until the ushers start cleaning up the seats around us. We look at each other and have a little laugh at ourselves, as we hurry to get out of there.

“Dinner?” asks Axel, as we get in his car.

Before I can answer, my stomach makes a weird gurgling noise, which is a little embarrassing.

“Guess that’s a yes,” chuckles Axel. “Do you like pizza? There’s a decent pizza restaurant in the village.”

“I love pizza!” I reply. I really do like pizza, but to be fair, anything he suggests will be greeted with the same level of enthusiasm. I'm just happy to be with him.

Axel grins. “Me too. Pizza it is then.”

Ten minutes later, Axel pulls into a street parking. The glow from the bulb lights around an old-fashioned box sign up ahead catch my attention. They announce 'Marino's Pizza Restaurant'. As we walk up to it, I take note of the small wooden tables set up on the pavement, tricolor umbrellas open over each table and foldout chairs around each one. The tables are set with red table linen, and each has a candle in a jar and a small vase with a plastic flower in it.

Colored lights are strung between the umbrellas and along the restaurant windows, imbuing a jaunty, cozy atmosphere.

“Sweet,” I exclaim, looking around.It looks inviting.

“Where do you want to sit - inside or outside?”

The evening is warm and the sea breeze has dropped right off since darkness fell. It’s a beautiful night, perfect for eating outside.

“Outside sounds great.”

We seat ourselves at a table, and order soft drinks while we select our pizzas.

“Do you come here often?” I ask Axel, once our order has been taken. Then I laugh, realizing what I've said.

"Oh. That sounds like a pick up line, doesn't it?"

Axel chuckles. "It does, but not one I'm likely to use. It's too much of a cliché."

"So what do guys of your generation use as a pick up line then?"

"First... quit with the 'your generation' stuff - I'm not an old man, okay? A-n-d secondly, it's not really a line I like to use, but most of my friends just go up to people and say 'wanna fuck?' "

"Are you serious?"

Axel nods, lips twisting and nose wrinkling. I can tell he's not that impressed.

"And, does it get results?" I can't believe it would. But maybe sometimes just asking for what you want is the shortest route to getting it.

Axel laughs. "Surprisingly, yes, sometimes. Mainly at parties though, where everyone's a bit buzzed. It's not my pickup technique, I promise."

"What's your technique?"

"I just pickup dudes on the beach," he replies. My eyes go so wide I probably look like a cartoon character, and I pretty much have to pick my jaw up off the table.

"Chill, dude," he says, "I'm just joking. You're the only one I've done that with."

Phew . For a minute there I actually believed him.

"I don't really have a line or technique or whatever," he goes on. "If I meet someone somewhere and we get along, we usually just agree to meet up again. Pretty casual. I've only had a couple of boyfriends."

I don't really want to get into a conversation about his previous boyfriends, because there's a little green-eyed monster that dwells inside me apparently, every time I think of Axel with someone else. So I redirect the conversation back to where we were before the detour.

"So, I'll ask it differently this time... how familiar are you with this pizza place?"

“I often get pizza here, but usually to take home. And I’ve been coming here for years. The owners are Italian and the pizzas are to die for."

"I'm expecting one helluva pizza then," I tell him.

A comfortable silence falls between us, and we smile and smirk at each other.

Then Axel takes my hand across the table and begins stroking it with his thumb. I’m surprised he’s being this open with his affection in public.

“Um, how well do you know them here?” I ask, looking pointedly at our joined hands.

Axel smiles. “Well enough. I dated Giovanni, their son, for a while. He’s one of the cooks.”

I’m not sure how I feel about this bit of information. It feels kind of weird to be sitting here holding hands while his ex is right there.

“Oh. Isn’t it awkward then, coming here for pizza?”

“Nah. We didn’t date for long and it was pretty casual. We’re still friendly. He’s a good guy, and he’s chill. And it’s a safe place to come if you’re out.”

Axel points out the rainbow sticker in the front window, right next to the images of the credit cards welcome here.

“Huh, that’s cool.”

“Yeah, ever since we found out we were hosting World Pride here, a lot of places have started doing it.”

We fall silent for a while, and then a sudden thought hits me.

“Oh, I forgot to ask…was your mum cool with me staying over or…?”

Axel doesn’t answer straight away, which makes me anxious. What will it mean if his mother doesn’t approve?

Axel sighs.

“Not really. It’s not you though… it’s because of my dad working for your grandfather.”

“Oh.” I can see how that could cause a problem. I wonder if this changes things. “So… what does this mean for us? Are we still…?”

Axel squeezes my hand. “…all in? Yes, we are.” He gives me a big smile, like he’s excited to be doing this and nothing is going to stop him. “It doesn’t change anything for me. Other than, you know, we’ll just have to be discreet at home.”

He frowns. “I don’t like having to hide our relationship,” he says. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m not out anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Um, she won’t say anything to my grandparents though, will she?”

“Not a chance. Don’t worry. She’s worried they’ll find out. I think it was pretty obvious the day we came over for lunch that your family’s… um…”

“Just say it,” I sigh, picking at the plastic table cover. “Homophobic.”

I must look sad, because Axel gives my hand a little tug to get me to look at him.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he tells me. “Some families are like that. We’ll deal, okay?"

I nod, grateful for his support and glad that he’s not letting it stand in our way.

“It won’t be forever. And it’s only when we’re around our families that we have to hide it, the rest of the time…,” he pauses here to lift my hand to his lips and kisses it, “we don’t. And I’m proud to be with you.”

That gives me a lot of mushy feelings inside that I don't really know what to do with, and I blush madly and can’t help squirming in my seat.

“You’re so cute when you get all shy,” Axel laughs, but I see a hunger in his eyes which makes even more blood rush to my face. As well as to other places.

I’m proud to be with him too and all these good feelings fluttering around inside me might just cause my chest to explode. I know I'm new at this, but I really feel this is something special.

After dinner, we walk along the beach. It seems like wherever you are around here, there’s a beach nearby. It’s dark as there’s no moon yet, and we’re the only ones down here. It’s so easy walking together like this. Axel has his arm around me, and I’m sure he must feel the pounding of my heart through my chest, because my heart is beating really, really fast.

He stops and pulls me into a kiss. I run my hands up under his shirt, over his abdomen and up over his chest. I still can’t believe he lets me touch him like this. My heart feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest and I breathe shallowly.

Axel’s lips move against mine, gentle but firm, and when my lips part for him, his tongue presses into my mouth and tangles with mine. The kiss grows more urgent until we’re literally devouring each other. I want this kiss to last forever and yet I want more.

I push my hips into his, and our cloth-covered cocks rub up against each other. One of us moans, I’m not sure who. Axel puts his large hands on my ass and pulls me in tighter, and we start to grind against each other.

One of Axel’s hands leaves my ass and we pull apart slightly as he slides it down inside the front of my shorts and takes my straining cock in his hand, giving it a lazy stroke.

“Fuck!” I gasp, thrusting into his hand.

“Oh god, you feel so good,” Axel murmurs, his lips against my forehead, as he gently strokes my shaft and runs his thumb up over the crown.

“Want you,” I whisper, voice cracking.

I suppress the whimper of protest that rises from my throat when Axel withdraws both his hands from me. There’s a rustle of clothing as Axel pulls his shorts down below his hips and his magnificent cock springs out. He pulls the drawcord loose on mine, tugs them down, spits in his hand and takes both his cock and mine together in his warm hand and begins to stroke.

I should be embarrassed at the unintelligible moans that fall from my mouth, but I’m beyond thinking. My awareness extends no further than our joined cocks and the rough stroke of Axel’s hand up and down our lengths, the slide of silky skin over our hard shafts. My hips thrust in time with his hand.

Axel groans.

We lean into each other and he takes my mouth again with his own, and the feel of his tongue exploring my mouth is both intimate and demanding. The intimacy of our joined mouths and our cocks rubbing together in Axel’s tight grip, is overwhelming, and I feel my orgasm rushing towards me. I surrender and let the waves of pleasure roll through me and I’m half-sobbing, half-moaning as I come.

Axel follows me over the edge, long spurts of cum shooting over his hand and into the space between us. We collapse against each other, wrung out and gasping. I hold Axel tight around his waist, and he slides his arms around my shoulders and pulls me against his chest. I feel his heart pounding against my chest, the ragged expansion and contraction of his ribcage. He rests his head on mine, as we stand there with the world spinning and we try to recover from the intensity of the moment we’ve just shared. Axel kisses my head repeatedly and murmurs something, which I can’t understand at first.

“Mmm?” I query.

“Mine,” he says gruffly.

I smile.

“Yes. I’m yours.”