1: Moving Out, Moving In

I woke up with a strange feeling of giddiness, as if I was six years old again, and going to my first tivoli. It was a mixture of expectation, nervousness and a little bit of nostalgic anxiety. Which in itself was kind of strange. How could I miss an apartment I had lived in for less than two years? But then again, the sentimental value it held... Love was written all over the place; inside the walls, on the floors, even in the ceiling. I loved the place, because it was where I had got to know Nate, to love him, to live with him. All I had to do was to close my eyes and smell the air inside the apartment, and I was transported back in time to some or other precious moment of our life together. Not just the sex, even though that had always been great, but also the quiet, comfortable evenings in front of the TV, cuddled together sometimes watching, sometimes not. And now we were moving out. The furniture was already gone; all that was left were a couple of boxes of clothes. Then it would be completely empty. The bare walls made my footsteps echo as I strolled down the winding path of memory. Our anniversary; romantic candlelight dinner with all that ensues. The engagement party, the time I'd had to nurse a sick Nate back to health, birthday parties. And the little moments; the quick kisses after coming home, showering together, cooking together. Always together. Me and Nate. I could easily have broken down crying, mourning the loss of these memories, if I hadn't known that I still had them, not in the apartment and the things, but in my heart. In our love. We weren't so much moving out as moving on. I shook my head. Enough of this! I had been running through all these mushy feelings all week, and I was beginning to get tired of them. The movers returned for the last boxes, picking them up as if they were nothing, carrying them away three at a time. Angelo and Mike, that was what they had introduced themselves as, and I knew I'd have to tip them generously for all the angry stares they'd had to withstand. Not that I didn't trust Nate, far from it, but his comments on Mike's body had sent a wild surge of protective jealousy through me. Not even my lover's repeated insurances that he only had eyes for me could keep me completely calm, and poor Angelo got his part of it, too. Innocent bystander, I thought. They always get hurt when there's war. I sighed to myself. Mike probably hadn't even noticed my hostility. Closing my eyes, I pulled up the mental image of how he had picked up the last of the boxes. True, he did have a great body, muscular and toned. True, he had a classic African face that was very pleasing to the eye. Yet to me, he seemed like a predator, waiting to set his claws into his prey. I knew it was irrational thinking, but I just couldn't help it. Nate found him attractive, but we had sworn to be faithful long ago, and I knew he'd keep his promise. And from what I had gathered from listening to the two movers talking, they were both married and had several kids. So there was no threat, except for the one some exceptionally persistent part of my psyche had produced. As for me, Mike really didn't make anything happen outside my brain's jealousy centre. During my almost two years with Nate, I had tried to look at other guys, but not one had made me breathe faster, unless they stared for too long at my boyfriend, that is. Nate's collection of gay porn did turn me on, but only because I kept picturing myself as one of the guys on the screen, and him as the other. Once Nate had realised this, he made me watch it more often. Our sex got more inventive that way. But fact remained; I just wasn't into guys, with one exception.

With the apartment empty, the last bit of nostalgia died away. It wasn't a home anymore. I walked over to the window and glanced at the street below. Immediately, my stomach lurched a bit. It would be great to live on the ground. To be able to look out of the window without vertigo. To go outside without five minutes' elevator delay. I peered out again, and this time it was my heart that made a back flip. That bright red car roof, I'd recognise it everywhere! I made a last sweep through the place while I waited for him, making sure we hadn't forgotten anything. But no, the place was completely clean. I was standing in what had been the den, but was now just a hole in the floor, when the door opened. Nate smiled warmly as he walked up to me and hugged me. The warmth of his body felt so good against me, and I didn't even mind the tickle of his unshaven cheek against mine.

"No second thoughts, Chris?"

"Nope. I'll be happy on firm ground. You?"

"I'll miss the place, but that's all. Did we miss anything?"

"No. Well, you did forget to bring me." I pouted, making him laugh. "I thought you'd leave me here for the next tenants to throw out with the trash."

"You'll go into the recycling bin, honey. Listen, I talked to Angelo outside." I clenched, then unclenched my fist. At least he hadn't talked to Mike. "He said it'll take them a couple of hours to set everything up. How about an early dinner? My treat."

"If it's your treat, then okay." I laughed, knowing just as he did that both our credit cards charged the same family account. McD's?"

"No, Burger King, I feel like luxury tonight."

"And you said money wouldn't spoil you!" I shook my head. "We'll need to rent black tie's, I know for certain that ours are in the bottom box."

"I love you, Chris, did you know that?" I turned around to he was holding me from behind. He kissed my neck while his hands came to rest just below my navel. "You always make me laugh when I need it."

"You needed to laugh right now?"

"Yeah. The move's got me more nervous than I'd ever thought."

"Why's that?"

"Oh, nothing. I react that way to change, when I'm not a hundred percent sure the outcome is good." He kissed me behind my ear and tightened his hold as my knees buckled. "Like when you moved in. I wasn't at all nervous then. I knew we were meant for each other from the start, Chris."

"Mhm," I whispered, still a bit shaky from his pushing my hottest of hot spots. "And I just took a couple of days to figure it out. Don't get so mushy, man."

"Why not?" He spun me around so our eyes could meet, then kissed my lips. "I know you, you love mushy. You love it when we get all lovey-dovey."

"A time and a place, love." I returned the kiss, with a little more fervour. "A time and a place."

"So, Donatello's?"

"Not pizza again. Dragon Palace?"

"We ate there last week. Eagle's Nest?"

"No more tall buildings. Luke's?"

"Too much fish. Pizza the Hutt?"

"I said, no pizza! Planet?"

"Too flashy."

"You like flashy, Nate."

"Not that flashy. Besides, I can't stand the waiter's at that place."

"All right, so Sushi Bar?"

"Not in this lifetime!"

We left the apartment, locking it behind us without much ceremony. Deep within, I felt that this would be a good thing, no matter how nervous it made Nate. We kept bickering about choice of restaurant in the elevator and on our way out to the car, knowing fully well we'd end up at Il Palazzo as always. The place where our first steps from friendship to love had been taken. In fact, Nate drove there without even asking, and I didn't object.

After our pasta dinner, Nate stretched out lazily in the passenger seat while I tried to remember the way to our new home. I hadn't driven there before, so I made a couple of wrong turns before I managed to find the right street. To my delight, the movers were already gone, so I had a huge grin on my face when I parked the car on our driveway. No more troubles, no more jealousy. The house wasn't very old; built some time during the eighties, then added to and renovated a couple of years ago. It was a two-storey building, with a balcony on the back side facing the large back yard, the pool and the forest beyond.. The colour was a nice light blue which I liked, but which made Nate shudder. Maybe we'd re-paint it during the summer, if I couldn't convince him otherwise. The house almost stood on the street, with just a couple of small cherry trees and some flowerbeds for front yard. Perfect for the neighbourhood kids, I thought with a grin, wondering if we'd get to taste any cherries ourselves. Then again, Nate had already had mine. I chuckled, then shared the joke as he glanced at me quizzically. We both got a good laugh out of that one. Nate let us in, the front door leading straight through a small hallway into the kitchen. On the other side of that, I knew, was the main hall, where a staircase led upstairs and doors led to the living room and two guest rooms. Upstairs was the master bedroom, our room, and a couple of smaller hobby rooms or offices. From the look of things, the furniture was already in place, and all we'd have to do was to unpack the boxes. A job that could wait until tomorrow. Nate fetched a can of cola from the fridge and started to make his way to the living room, but I grabbed his arm, spinning him around.

"In a hurry?"

"Not really. Why? You're not horny already, are you?"

"Mmmaybe..." I pulled him into a hug and started to kiss his neck, rewarded by a short gasp and a low purr. "I want to make love, Nate."

"In the kitchen?"

"In every room of the house." I took the can away from him and he hugged me back. "Then twice in our bedroom. Think you're up to it?"

"Is that a challenge?" He giggled. "I'm more than a match for you, old man."

"I love you, Nate." We kissed, deeply and passionately, while I started to unbutton his jeans. "I love you with all my heart."

We managed four rooms, then the two times in the master bedroom. By then, I was thoroughly exhausted, and not so little sore. Both we and the bed were messy and sticky, but neither of us cared. I lay on my back with Nate half on top of me, kissing the sweat from my forehead. I rubbed his back, too tired to even kiss him.

"We'll need fresh sheets, love," he said, running a finger through a still-warm puddle on my stomach. "And at least two showers."

"In a minute." I sighed with content. "For a while there, I really thought we'd make it through all the rooms."

"We might've made it, if you'd top once in a while. We'll need to clean up the mess in the living room, too, before it dries into the carpet."

"Leave it! Just gives it that lived-in look."

"Fucked-in, you mean? Chris, I paid many dollars for that carpet."

"So clean it up. I can't move."

"Not even with some... persuasion?"

He let his hand travel slowly down my body until he reached my flaccid member. Pulling the foreskin back, he started tickling the tip until I began to grow hard again. Just as I was getting into it, he moved down to cup my balls. They were a bit tender, but he just rolled them around gently in his hand. Then he pinched one of them, and I yelped with surprise at the sudden flash of pain. In an instant, he was on his feet, jumping happily up and down while he laughed at me. Tears almost filled my eyes as I rubbed my poor nut, but the sight of my naked boyfriend laughing on my behalf made me forget the pain. I got up and rushed him, but he managed to dodge me, squealing with laughter as I started chasing him down the hall. He feinted me inside one of the offices, and giggled down the stairs with me in pursuit. All thoughts of revenge were long since gone; seeing his bouncing hard-on pointing the way as he ran had made me fully hard as well, and I had other plans for when I'd catch him. We ran through the first guest room to the second, via the adjoining door, then out into the hall and into the living room. Nate slipped in the residue of our fierce love-making from a couple of hours ago, and while he regained his balance, I caught him. In a swift move, I threw him over my shoulder and carried him off. He squirmed and grunted as he tried to get loose, but I held him in a firm grip. His constant moving made him difficult to carry, though, so I took hold of his sac. He got the idea, and stayed still. I carried him through the main hall to the patio door, and out to the back yard. The place was slightly obscured by a hedge and some bushes, but we both knew that if anybody had walked by on the forest path, they would have been presented with the sight of two adult males, both aroused and laughing like crazy, wrestling in the freshly cut grass. It had begun to darken, so it wasn't very likely somebody would see us, but it was still an exciting thought. After horsing around with Nate for a little while, I pinned him down and kissed him, our hard cocks rubbing against each other. He started to squirm , and I realised that he was close to coming. So I got up, then helped him to his feet. Once he was standing up, I hoisted him over my shoulder again, ignoring his indignant screams for mercy. I thought at first I'd throw him into the pool, but then I remembered how my brother-in-law had always complained that cut grass clogged the pool filters, so I brought him back inside instead. Except for the patio door which leads to the main hall of the house, there's another door leading to a combined shower/laundry room. Still with Nate on my shoulder, I turned on one of the showers on the coldest setting, then jumped in. Both our screams echoed in the cramped space, followed by laughter as we rolled around on the floor, wrestling like little boys. In the end, we set the shower to warm and started to wash each other. Soaping turned to fondling, and fondling turned more intense. That's one more room, I thought to myself as Nate wrapped his arms around me from behind. I spread my legs and closed my eyes.

Early next morning, I woke up with Nate all over me. I couldn't really remember how we had fallen asleep, but now he lay half on top of me, our groins pushed together. His head was somewhere beneath my right arm, and his feet were just about the only parts of us still beneath the bed cover. His right arm was draped across my face, and I couldn't resist an urge to tickle his armpit. He started to squirm, ooh-ing and mmph-ing in his sleep. His movement sent a jolt of pleasure through my morning wood, which stiffened even further. Twisting my head a bit, I was able to reach his right nipple, and I started circling it with my tongue, occasionally stopping to suck on it. Nate groaned and started grinding his hips against me. It felt good, better than good, but at the same time my bladder was screaming for release. Nate's weight on my nether regions didn't help. I tried to push him off of me, but he seemed to take that as further foreplay, and started caressing whatever part of me his hands could reach. Even in his sleep, he loved nothing better than to touch and feel me.

"Nate? Nate, wake up, I need to go to the bathroom."

No reply.

"Nate! I'm serious, man, I'll wet the bed!"

No reply, but he started kissing my elbow, muttering something in his sleep.

"Nate, love, please! I don't want to pee all over us on our first night in the new house!"

Still no reply. Getting desperate, I tried with all my strength to heave him away, but I was lying half on my side, with no real leverage. In the end, I took to a desperate means. I grabbed one of the hairs in his armpit and yanked it for all I was worth. He yelled out and scrambled out of the bed, almost kneeing my balls in the process. I was out of the bedroom door in no time, but since I was used to our old apartment, I took a wrong turn and almost ended up relieving myself in a broom closet. In the end, though, I found my way. Nate was right behind me, and like little kids we duelled with our streams, laughing all the time. Showering led to playing, and we ended up making love again. This time, I was too sore from the previous day, so I got behind Nate and soaped him up. He closed his eyes and sighed as I entered him, leaning back so we could kiss.

"Mmm, remind me to let you have your way with me more often." His voice was slightly ragged, since I was stroking his erection with one hand and his nipples with the other. "Just a little lower, honey."

I crouched slightly, feeling the underside of my shaft rub against his prostate. It didn't take him long to come, and I was surprised to see that he could still shoot a full load. While he was recovering from his peak, I sped up my thrusts, hurrying to reach mine. I squeezed his body to me as I exploded inside him, then leaned back against the cubicle wall. It wasn't as luxuriously large as the one in our apartment, but made up for that by being just nicely large enough, not cramped but tight in a cozy way.. As I pulled out after a little bit of fondling and kissing, I found that Nate hadn't softened. He grinned happily at me as I went down on him, feeling the jets of hot water as well as his gentle hands on my head. I closed my eyes and breathed in through my nose. No matter how much soap he used, Nate could never quite rid himself of his strong, masculine scent. It filled my nostrils, and as I took him in, my mouth. I made love to him slowly and with a lot of suction and tongue work. Nearly two years of practice let me know each and every way to drive him over the edge, and I tried them all; squeezing his testicles gently but firmly, licking the sensitive skin where his foreskin met his glans, rubbing a finger against his hole, pushing my nose into his pubes one every `in' and scraping my teeth lightly against the fold of his foreskin on every `out'. I think it took less than a minute, then Nate's knees gave way and he sank down to sit in front of me, squirting his seed all over me as he went. I groaned disappointedly over being denied my treat, but hurried to lick my face clean before the shower washed it all off. He reached up and hugged me, and our lips met in a very tender kiss. It lasted much longer than Nate had, but in the end we had to break it as the water started getting cold. We hurriedly finished washing off, then got out to start the day.

By noon, I was all but exhausted. And with good reasons, because we were almost done with the boxes. The house was beginning to look like a home. We'd had a couple of arguments about which adornment went where, but all in all it had been done in agreement. I was sitting in the living room couch, idly flipping through TV channels while Nate made us a light salad. The stereo was playing some soft classic music in the background, and I felt totally at peace with the world. Living with Nate was a constant high. Everything, all the time, was just smiles and laughter. And love. Lots of it. We were so totally in synch with each other we often didn't even need to talk. Like now. He had seen how tired I was, so he had started making lunch without even asking. Later on, I'd give him a kiss or a hug or something as thanks, but right now, nothing was needed. I smiled at him as he brought in our plates, already breaking the rule we'd made that said no eating in the living room. But hell, that's what rules are for. I made room for him, but he wanted nothing of it, preferring as always to sit as close to me as possible. He leaned his head on my shoulder, and I gave him a kiss on the cheek, putting my arm around his waist as I fed him a piece of cucumber. He kissed me back, a light brush of lips against lips, then we settled down to eat. The salad was great, but the dressing was pure magic, and I told him so. He just smiled and shook his head, indicating a secret recipe. Afterwards, we laid back on the couch, him on top of me. I put my arms around his chest and nuzzled the back of his neck. He giggled as I blew down his shirt.

"Still feeling protective, honey?"

"What?"

"I saw how jealous you were yesterday, when I checked out those movers."

"Well, can you blame me? You were undressing them with your eyes." I pouted, but that quickly turned into a satisfied sigh as he turned around and laid his head down on my shoulder, just within reach to kiss me. "I can't help it, love. You know I trust you, but I can't ever trust the other guys."

"Not even macho movers with wedding rings and kids' drawings in their truck cab?"

"Nate, I know how bad you can turn a guy around." I kissed him back. "What were you doing in their cab?"

"Giving Angelo a check."

"I thought it was Mike you were checking out." He laughed. "Look, I know I'm being silly, as always..."

"No, honey, you're not!" Suddenly, there was a serious look on his face. He stroked a tuft of hair away from my forehead, the looked me straight in the eyes. "You're not silly at all. I think it's sweet when you're jealous, it makes me really feel how much you love me. I just hope you don't feel to bad about it. I know I often look at other guys, but they can never compare to you."

"Sweetness." I kissed him, slightly deeper this time. "I don't feel bad about it, but I don't really like it that I can't keep my jealousy in check. It gets even worse when other guys check you out."

"I know." He giggled. "You're like a mama bear protecting her cubs."

"Like in Rose is Rose."

"Exactly like in Rose is Rose," he sniggered. "I feel so safe with you."

"As long as you don't mind some extra hugs and smooches at times, it should be okay, then?"

"Sure. I'd like some extra smooches right now!" He kissed me and grabbed my crotch, making me gasp with the sudden pleasure. "And maybe more, too."

"You're insatiable, you know that, don't you?" I closed my eyes and laid my head down. "This much sex can't be good to you."

"Oh, it's good to me all right! Is it good to you too, honey?"

"It's brilliant, Nate." I made no move to stop him as he started unzipping my trousers. "Just brilliant."

During the next couple of days, we got the house to order. Nate put up new wall paper and painted what needed paint indoors, while I freshened up the garden. Instead of the horrible fence that had edged the sidewalk I planted a low hedge, just enough to show the border to our property but still not feel inhospitable. The flower beds needed work, too, and one of the cherry trees didn't look too well. My dad had taught me gardening, but it had been a while since I had any opportunity to do any, so I really relished in it. Meanwhile, Nate transformed the innards of the house to something that looked like a trendy interior design magazine. After every workday, he showed me around and pointed out the changes he had done with colours, wall paper, decorations and furnishing, and I always found myself gaping. I'm not much for flashy, but he made it all fit together to form something beautiful. If it wasn't for his computer skills, he could easily have become the best-paid decorator in the state. While my work made me exhausted, his only excited him, so our nights became a mixture of soft cuddling and hard sex. Not that I minded, but I often woke up more tired than I had been going to bed.

Nate had convinced me that the light blue clashed with the new interior, so I ended up re-painting the house. After much clashing of tastes and comparing of colour ranges, we settled on red with white window frames. All that work pretty soon attracted attention from neighbours, and since Nate and I had been appearing in loads of magazines when the news of our getting together got out, they all recognised me. I could feel eyes upon me, but I had grown used to that, even after the hysteria broke down, so I paid them no notice at first. Soon, though, I started to glance around. It was all kinds, from cautious frowns to `look, a celebrity!' stares. No one disturbed my paint work, though. Nate is not only used to the attention, he relishes in it, and when I'd told him he started to run little errands into the garden. As the sun started to settle down in the west, we sat on the porch with a snack, still feeling eyes upon us every now and then. We sat close to each other, occasionally touching or lightly kissing one another.

"It's better this way," Nate said. "Kill off the speculations and the rumours with solid fact. They'll get used to us, you'll see."

"Or move out. Nate, I'm not worried." I stroked his cheek. "Once, maybe, but certainly not anymore. We love each other, and that's all that matters."

It was slowly getting dark, but the summer was well on its way, so it wasn't cold. I didn't feel like going inside, and Nate stayed with me. We didn't talk for a long while, just sat there holding hands, content with each other's presence. Eventually, though, after the sun had set, we got up and stretched our muscles. Nate reached out for the door handle, but I stopped him. This far from the inner city's neon and street lights, the firmament was quite impressive. Holding Nate close to me, I pointed towards Gemini. Castor and Pollux, bright and always together. He followed my finger with his gaze and smiled. A tear rolled down his cheek, and he hugged me tightly.

"You were right, love," I whispered. "They really do smile upon us."