Category: Flash Fic Friday

**This week’s prompt is a car breaking down, a bickering couple, and a hot tow truck driver. Enjoy!**

“When the check engine light comes on, that means you’re supposed to check the engine.”

Clenching my jaw, I kept my gaze fixed straight ahead at the white smoke billowing from the hood of the car. I did not turn and look at the man who had shared my heart, bed, and body for the past nine years. If I did, I would probably claw his eyes out just for the patronizing tone. I took a deep breath, and let it out slowly, then closed my eyes as the smoke seemingly got thicker.

“This is not my fault.”

Sam snorted out a derisive laugh. “This is exactly your fault. Jeremy, you didn’t service your car when it told you it needed it.”

“Don’t snipe at me,” I ground out. “The light came on when I was driving home yesterday, but then it was gone this morning when I started the car. How was I to know the car would start belching steam half way to your parents house?”

“You should have called the garage as soon as–” Sam’s words were cut off when a flashing yellow light cut through the darkness. His parents lived twenty-five miles out of town, and we’d been stuck on a back road that only had intermittent lights.

Sam turned and looked behind us as the tow truck came into view, it’s huge headlights illuminating his face. I turned in time to see his scowl morph into one of relief. He’d called his father to come meet us after we’d called Triple A, and I knew he was worried about keeping his dad out in the cold. Now, once the man arrived, we’d already be in the process of getting the car taken care of.

A big bulk of muscle hopped down from the cab of the tow truck, and I exited the car at the same time as Sam. The moment the tow truck drive came into view, I sucked in a breath. He was gorgeous, all cut muscle and broad shoulders. His face was a study in carved perfection, and his grin was blinding even in the dark. I had to lean against my sedan as my knees went a little weak.

“Hey there,” he called in a jovial sort of voice. “Looks like you’ve got problems. Can you pop the hood for me?”

I leaned back in to do as he asked, but when I straightened, Sam was right there, standing between us. He’d crossed his arms over his chest, puffed up even, and he was glowering at the tow truck driver. I tried to peer around Sam as the man leaned over to look at the engine, but Sam stepped back into me, pushing me back a step. I jabbed at his shoulder, but he didn’t move. Sam was almost as big at the driver was, six foot tall and bulky. There was no moving him if he didn’t want to move.

“What is with you?” I hissed in his ear. But Sam didn’t respond.

The driver stood up, and gave us another grin. “Blown head gasket. You got a place you want me to tow her?”

Sam answered before I could, giving him the name of the garage, and then all but ordered me to get anything of value out of the car so that we didn’t have to worry about it when it was at the shop. I grumbled as I did it, constantly glancing at Sam and the way he stood glaring at the tow truck driver.

Fifteen minutes later, my car was hooked up to the tow truck, and Sam’s dad had arrived. I’d put all my belongings into his dad’s car trunk, and then turned to thank the driver, but saw he was already getting into his truck. A moment later, he trundled off, my sedan rolling along behind.

I whipped around to glare at Sam. “What the hell was that all about?”

Sam glared right back. “You’re mine. And he can’t have you.”

Possessiveness. My knees went weak again, but for an entirely different reason. Sam knew he had nothing to worry about where I was concerned. I’d never stray. But that didn’t stop Sam from staking his claim every now and again. And every time, it made my heart pound and my stomach swoop. I loved that he had to show the world I was his.

I grinned and threw my arms around his neck. Sam softened immediately.

“He wasn’t going to take me. Never would be able to.”

“Damn right.” Sam sounded smug.

My grin grew even wider. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. Once we get home, I’ll show you just how much I’m yours.”

**Today’s prompt: a diner after a Broadway audition. Enjoy!**

It had been a long, fucking day. Made to feel even longer by waiting for most of it, attempting to keep myself limber, while I watched group after group of dancers head in to audition. Waiting my turn. I’d been in one of the last groups to preform for the director and choreographer. This was both a good and bad thing. Waiting was terrible, and everyone was tired. Including the powers that be, the ones who made the decisions. But by then they also knew what they didn’t want, and they often grouped the better dancers toward the end of the day. I had a pretty good reputation, having just come off a successful two year run in the ensemble of Fiddler. This new show was supposed to be groundbreaking, and getting in on the first run would go a long way to prettying up my resume.

“I’m starving, Jj!” Leigh whined, slinging her dance bag over her shoulder, and putting on a huge pout. “Teddy and Marcus are too. Let’s go eat.”

“That diner on 45th?” I suggested picking up my own bag and looking at the other three. Teddy rolled his eyes, and Marcus’s got big.

“Are you sure you want to go there?” he asked.

Leigh rolled her eyes. “He always wants to go there. He’s likes staring at the big dude behind the counter.”

“I like it,” I protested mildly, “because the food is good and it’s usually pretty quiet in there.”

“And you like staring at the dude.”

I ignored Leigh and led the way out of the theater and into the cool night air. It was going on ten, but then temp was still pretty balmy. The city kept the heat in. So even though I was tired, I didn’t have a problem walking the three blocks over and two up to get to the diner. The moment I stepped inside, I felt better. Some nourishing carbs to build back up the calories I’d lost, and some eye candy to boot, while I ate with my friends. Because Leigh was right; I did like looking at the big man behind the counter.

He gave us a nod and a wave as we traipsed inside and headed for a booth in the corner. There were only a couple of other occupied tables, and the man made sure everyone else was doing fine before making his way to our table. He graced us with a grin.

“Waters all around?”

“Yes please,” I said with a smile. He smiled back.

“Seen you a lot lately,” he mentioned casually, passing around menus. His gaze kept straying back to me.

“I like the food.” I caught his gaze, made my smile a little bit wicked. “I wanted to bring my friends.”

“Just come from an audition?” He crossed to the counter and grabbed four glasses and a pitcher of water, and then came back.

Marcus was staring wide-eyed, and Leigh was practically gaping. I grinned. “How’d you know?”

The man shrugged, but his smile was adorable. “You have that hungry look that’s a combination of both actual hunger and metaphorical. Usually when it’s rehearsal, it’s just exhausted and physical hunger.”

I laughed, and the man grinned. He left us with the menus for a bit so that we could look over the menus, and I pointedly ignored my friends. When the man came back to take our orders, he made a point of talking to everyone else before focusing on me. I tried not to read too much into his smile as I ordered a patty melt. He wrote it down, but kept his gaze on me.

“My name’s Sam.”

“Jason. Everyone calls me Jj.”

Sam’s smile widened.  “Well, Jason. If you’re interested, maybe one day soon, you and I can get a meal together somewhere else.”

My heart pounded hard at the surge of adrenaline and arousal. I nodded, smiling. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

“Good.” Sam rapped his knuckles on the table. “I’ll get your order in.”

I watched him walk away, the grin growing until my face hurt. I didn’t even care that my friends were teasing me. Despite the long day full of tense waiting, the audition had gone well and now I had a date with a pretty man.

I was going to call that a win.

**Today’s prompt: an argument after a game. I had to think about exactly how I wanted to do this one. Enjoy!**

I slammed through the front door, anger seething in my gut, and dropped my equipment in the mudroom. Behind me, Henri entered more sedately. I caught his wince out of the corner of my eye when I threw my stick into the corner. I should be more careful, but I was too angry to care. I stomped into the kitchen, then yanked open the refrigerator door. The bottles clanked and clinked dangerously. I grabbed a beer off the lower shelf, slammed the door shut, then banged the bottle down on the counter to pry off the top.

“Please stop banging around.” Henri’s voice was quiet as he followed me into the kitchen, his words slightly accented from his formative years spent in Quebec.

I pointed a finger at him, scowling. “Don’t. Just don’t.”

His answering scowl was adorable, but I wouldn’t let his pretty face sway me from my anger. I had every right be pissed off and I wasn’t going to stop just because he was pleading with me with his big brown eyes.

“What would you have me do, Christopher?”

Always my full name. Never Chris like everyone else in the world. Not for Henri. Not since the moment we met when I joined the team and certainly not since my apartment building collapsed and I moved in with him because I needed a place to stay. And his voice, saying my full name, caused shivers to roll down my spine. But I was angry, dammit!

“I was wide open! Half the night, standing there with a hand on my ass, while you fucking refused to pass me the puck!”

Henri’s eyes blazed, color rising high on his cheeks, and he straightened to his full six two height. “Their defensemen were twice your size. And gunned for you every time you did have the puck.”

“I can handle myself on the ice!” I threw up my hands, slopping beer out of the bottle in my hand. I slammed it down on the counter and rounded on Henri again, pushing into his space. “It’s not up to you to make those kind of decisions. You play the game!”

He reached out, almost too fast for me to track, and he grabbed my shoulders. He pulled me in, right up against him, and then slid his hands into my hair, tilting my head back so he could look down into my eyes. “I will not have you hurt.”

The ferocity in his voice, the utter conviction, made me catch my breath. What the hell? His grip softened, turned into holding on instead of gripping, and I licked my lips, watching him. His exhalation was explosive.

“You got something to tell me, Henri?” I whispered.

For a long moment, he was silent. And I was sure, for just a second, that he was going to pull away. Then he sagged against me, and I held on, wrapping my arms around his waist. Henri slid his fingers into my hair.

“Yes,” he said with conviction. “I want us to stop pretending we don’t love each other, stop being roommates, stop sleeping in separate rooms. I want you to come to bed with me right now, and stay there all night. I want you to be mine, not just my friend who lives in my house.”

I swallowed hard. He was offering me everything I’d been craving for months, the thing I only dared to acknowledge to myself in the dead of night. I’d hoped, sure. We’d been dancing around each other since the beginning, and we’d fallen into an easy rhythm of cohabitation. But I didn’t allow myself to give it solid thought, because I couldn’t be entirely sure.

But now he was staring at me, his eyes full of warmth and affection, desire and need, and a little bit of worry. I knew he was speaking the absolute truth. Henri never minced words.

The longer I was silent, the more the worry replaced the lust, and I couldn’t allow that. Not when I wanted him so much.

I lifted up onto my toes, closed the few inches between us, and kissed him.

**This week’s prompt: a road trip and a discovery. Enjoy!**

“I got the snacks!”

I chuckled over Jake’s enthusiasm. He was more excited about the trip than I was, but he loved to drive, and three days on the open road as we transversed the country sounded like heaven to him.Me? I wasn’t quite as excited as my best friend, but his eagerness more than made up for it. I was only doing this for him anyway. His grandmother’s ninetieth birthday could not be missed, and Jake decided to turn it into a vacation. Three days to drive there, three days to hang out and celebrate, and three days back. I still wasn’t sure how he’d talked me into going with him, but Jake was persuasive in the best of times. When there was something he really wanted? I couldn’t even try to stand in his way.

“Get a move on!” Jake called over the top of his car. I laughed again, and pushed off from the door. I turned and locked it, and then jogged down the steps with my bag slung over my shoulder. Jake popped the trunk, and I dropped the bag inside, then slammed it shut. Jake winced.

“Careful with her, now.”

I refrained from pointing out that the car was actually an inanimate object, and didn’t have feelings. But Jake was overly attached to his car, and I knew it. I patted the trunk consolingly, then climbed into passenger side. Jake shot me a huge grin.

“Thanks for coming with me. It means a lot to me.”

“Of course, Jake.” He’d been my best friend ever since he and his mother moved in next to my family. We’d been barely old enough to walk. And the past thirty years we’d been inseparable. He wanted me to go, of course I would.

He was my world

He pulled out onto the street and pointed the car toward the highway. Thirty minutes later, we were cruising the interstate at only a slightly higher speed than the limit. Jake turned up the volume on his music, classic rock, and I settled back, letting his smooth baritone wash over me, as the rhythmic whir of the tires on pavement lulled me. I wasn’t asleep, for all that it was seven o’clock in the morning, but I was soothed by the whole thing.

We rode like that for hours, occasionally making conversation, or pointing out a bit of interesting landscape, but mostly riding in comfortable silence. Jake ate like a machine, and I passed over his snacks as he wanted, whatever he was hungry for. We passed the day like that, him behind the wheel, me helping him navigate. Which, when I thought about it, was pretty much how we lived our lives. Eventually, the sun had slunk below the horizon, and Jake’s eyes began to droop.

“Maybe we should stop for the night, huh? Get some dinner?”

Finding a hotel was easy, and they had plenty of rooms available. I went to reserve two, but Jake’s face fell and he bumped me with his hip. “No need to waste the money, yeah?”

I turned to the clerk. “One room with two queens please.”

Upstairs in our room, Jake investigated everything, and found a nearby restaurant in the little book on the bedside table. It looked good to me, so I agreed. Jake wanted a shower first and I turned on the TV to find something to watch while I waited for him to be ready.

“Can you grab my bag of stuff out of my bag?” he shouted.

I rolled my eyes, chuckling as I pushed off the bed. It was a good thing I’d long ago become fluent in Jake-speak. I put his bag on the bed, then unzipped the duffel and sifted through the content until I found his toiletries bag. I shoved aside t-shirts, and there at the bottom was the bag. As well as a rope bracelet. My heart started to pound. The piece of hemp was worn and frayed, but still whole. I’d given him that when we were eight, and I’d learned how to tie sliding knot.

Why did he still have it? And more importantly, why did he pack it in his bag? He wasn’t an overly sentimental guy. So why did he have this piece of our childhood and why was he carrying it with him.

“Hey!”

I startled, then took his bag into the bathroom, dropping it onto the closed toilet lid without look at him and heading back into the room. I told myself to put the bracelet back away and pretend I didn’t know about it, but I couldn’t stop staring.

I was still holding it in my hand when Jake emerged from the bathroom.

He caught sight of me and froze. Then he gave me a lopsided, nervous grin. “So. Uh. I see you discovered my secret.”

I shook my head, holding it up. “Jake? I… uh?”

He smiled. “I don’t go anywhere without it. That’s the moment I knew I…” He looked scared for a second. Then cleared his throat. “The moment I fell in love and lost my heart. To you.”

“You never said anything,” I whispered.

“How could I? But, you know, you have the proof of it in your hand so…” He blew out a breath. “Luke?”

I walked forward, and he sucked in a breath. When I was right in his space, took his hand in mind and slipped the bracelet onto wrist. It barely fit, even extended all the way. But I managed to get it on, and in the process, I felt like I marked him as mine. Just as I had all those years ago.

I grinned. He grinned back. And then I noticed what he was wearing. I rolled my eyes, and nudged him toward his bag. “Get dressed. I believe we have things to discuss.”

He sighed, and kissed my temple as he walked by. “I guess we do.”

 

**The prompt was simple this week: Tom bails Greg out of jail. Enjoy!**

Tom watched as Greg collected his belongings. Keys, phone, wallet, pink hat with the pointy ears. Greg made sure he took possession of each item before signing the form the booking sergeant held out. He signed a few more forms, and Tom stood by, not saying a word until Greg was finished. Then Greg walked toward Tom, and just as Greg opened his mouth, Tom turned and headed out of the precinct. He didn’t have to look to know Greg was following behind him.

Silently, they made their way down the long parking lot to the car. Without a word, Tom got into the driver’s side and stared straight ahead, waiting for Greg to get in as well.

“Tommy, I’m sorry.”

Tom blew out a breath, spared a glance at Greg, before he started the car and got into motion.

“I can’t not protest, Tommy.” Greg’s voice was low and urgent. “I have to keep speaking out. I can’t be quiet. We can’t be quiet. That’s the only way anything will change.”

“I know, Greg.” Tommy turned onto a quiet street, wending his way toward home. “And I love how vocal you are. How hard you fight. It’s one of the things I’ve always admired about you. And if I hadn’t been on shift, I would have been right there with you.”

“I know! So what is with you? I said I was sorry.”

“I’m not mad.”

A beat of silence. “Really?” Disbelief laced Greg’s voice. “Because you haven’t said a single word to me since I called you for bail.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t love getting up in the middle of the night to bail my husband out of jail.” Tom shook his head. He reached out and grabbed Greg’s hand, squeezing his fingers. “I get it babe. I do. Of course I wish you hadn’t gotten arrested. But I’m not mad. Because if you don’t speak up, then who will?”

The tension melted from Greg’s shoulders, and he exhaled heavily, settling back in the seat. Tom refocused on the road, but he kept glancing at his husband. The man was beautiful, if tired and disheveled. And the pink hat looked good with his dark hair.

“You’re going to keep speaking out, and I love you for that. You have a voice when so many others don’t. But honey? Please can you try not to get arrested again? Bail money aside, coming to get you, I worry what could happen and…” Tom’s gut clenched as his mind raced with all the possibilities.

“Yeah,” Greg said quickly, soothingly. “Of course. I’ll do my damnedest. And pretty soon? Pretty soon all this protesting, speaking out, constantly barraging them, they’ll learn. They’ll learn we aren’t going to get tired and give up. That we aren’t going to go away. We’ll make a difference.”

Tom nodded. He wanted exactly that. Though he didn’t have the unwavering faith his husband had, he still held onto hope.

Pulling into their driveway just as the sun lightened the sky, Tom wearily exited the car and pulled Greg in close when the man pushed into his space. Maybe not the most pleasant way Tom had ever spent the night. But it was worth it. Important. He wasn’t in the position to do it himself, but he loved Greg with all that he was. He would support the man in everything he did.

Even bailing him out of jail.

**A Valentine’s Day prompt this week! Evan thinks the box of sweets is from his work BFF to cheer him up after a recent breakup…but is it? Enjoy!**

Evan wasn’t really big on celebrating Valentine’s Day himself, but he enjoyed all the red and pink decorations, and he liked seeing couples in love. All that gave him hope that one day he would find the same. He’d take hope wherever he could find it these days. Since Christmas, since that moment when Lou had walked out, he’d had little hope.

Evan shook his head and resumed his walk. Sure, after the fact he’d realized how much better off he was without Lou. It hadn’t been as amazing as he thought it had. But it had taken it quite a while to get to this point, because he’d been certain Lou was it. His forever. And now he was thirty-seven and alone again.

That was more than a little depressing, and even more so when he thought about his age in conjunction. Evan knew from a young age he was the settling down type. In all his fantasies, he had imagined being settled long before now. But that hadn’t happened. Reality was different.

It had taken a lot of tears, soul searching, and one ritual burning, but he was okay now. Most of the time anyway. Evan pushed it all aside as he got to his corner cubicle. He had the office luncheon to look forward to later, and the quiet chatter that filled the floor seemed happy and upbeat. It was a good day, and Evan resolutely refused to let those morose thoughts ruin the mood.

The dark mood that threatened abruptly vanished when Evan got to his desk. Because right there in the center of his previously spotless desk was a red, heart shaped box. The satin bow was a nice touch.  No card, but Evan didn’t need one. He knew who the present was from. A grin stretched his mouth, and he lifted the lid to sample one of the smooth, milk chocolate confections inside. He gave a tiny moan as it melted on his tongue, then slid his jacket off and hung it up.

“Whatcha got there?” Joanie’s melodic voice sounded behind Evan, and he turned as his smile grew. He burst out laughing when he saw his work best friend wearing a headband with heart-topped antennae.

“Like you don’t know.” He leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, Joanie B. The chocolates made my day.”

She glanced at the desk, and then back up at Evan’s face. “I didn’t get them for you.”

“Yeah, right.” Evan chuckled as he sat.

“Evan.” Joanie stared right at him. “I’m telling you. I didn’t. I made the red velvet cupcakes you like for the potluck because I knew they would cheer you up. But the candy is not from me.”

Evan sat up straighter and really studied her. Joanie was the greatest friend, and he wouldn’t put it past her to do something exactly like this. She would think it was the best way to cheer him up. But Joanie also didn’t lie, and she was very serious. It took a second for everything to process. Just about the time Evan decided she was telling the truth was the moment Joanie figured out what was going on.

“There’s no card or note?” Joanie’s eyes lit up as he shook his head, and her voice dropped. “You have a secret admirer!”

Rolling his eyes, Evan shooed her away. “I don’t. Stop it. I’m sure there’s an explanation. I can’t be the only one who got one.”

Joanie opened her mouth but Evan shut it down with another firm dismissive motion.

“Go to work,” he told her.

She went.

***

It was three hours later when the heart antennae appeared over the top of the cubicle wall seconds before Joanie’s  beaming face.

“No one else got one. I checked. You have a secret admirer.”

“Go away,” Evan said, purposefully ignoring her sing-song voice. She frowned before she disappeared again.

Once she was gone, Evan let himself grin. Someone liked him enough to leave him chocolates. He wouldn’t go so far as to think he actually had a secret admirer. But it was nice to think of nonetheless.

The smile stayed on his face the rest of the day.

***

It was after six before Evan finally finished what he was working on and was able to pack up for the day. He went through the methodical process of shutting down his computers and putting away his things. He snapped off his desk lamp, and then stood to shrug on his jacket. His eyes fell on the now half empty heart.

That had really made his day.

After a moment’s debate, Evan decided he was taking the chocolates home. He’d been going to lock them in the drawer and have more again tomorrow. But he thought he’d rather have them this evening with a glass of wine, remembering the feeling he had when he saw them. He tucked them into his messenger bag, slung it over his shoulder, and headed out.

At the elevators, Evan ran into Lucas, one of the managers in a neighboring department. Evan admired Lucas’s confident, take charge attitude. He also enjoyed the way the man filled out a suit, and the bright smile he always gave Evan. Lucas was definitely the stuff Evan was happy to fantasize about.

The elevator arrived before they could do much more than exchange greetings. Lucas stepped back and allowed Evan to enter first, and Evan hit the button for the bottom floor. Lucas offered him a small smile, little more than a smirk.

“How did you enjoy your chocolate?”

Evan gave a tiny moan of happiness. “They are unbelievably good. I…wait. How did you know about that? Did Joanie ask everybody in the whole company?”

Lucas shook his head, and his grin grew heated. “No. But I was hoping you would enjoy them when I picked them out.”

Evan opened his mouth to speak, but he couldn’t manage to make a single sound. It’d been a gift from Lucas? How was that possible?

The elevator dinged, and Lucas stepped into Evan’s space, putting a hand on the small of his back and steering him out into the garage. Evan could smell Lucas, the hint of spice and fabric starch, and he nearly moaned at the heat the man was giving off.

“How about dinner? I have reservations. And I can tell you all about how I’ve been plotting this for weeks. Ever since I heard you were no longer with your boyfriend and I could see you were healing.” Lucas leaned down, and skimmed his nose against Evan’s cheek, making him shudder. “And you can tell me if you want to pursue this after dinner?”

Evan swallowed, smiled, and nodded. This was already turning out to be one of the most romantic Valentine’s Day Evan had ever had. And the promise in Lucas’s voice, and the heat in his eyes, assured Evan it was about to get even better.

**Today’s prompt is two guys in a rock band admitting they have feelings for each other for the first time. Enjoy!!**

The thing I liked most about the playing the venues was the private bathrooms in the dressing rooms. When The Lost Boys were playing for hundreds instead of hundreds of thousands, we thought we were lucky when we had a room to gather offstage, let alone a bathroom. But now we had made a name for ourselves, each member of the band had their own dressing room, including private bathrooms. After a show like that, when we’d be on fire, everything coalescing, the beat driving us and the audience to heights we rarely achieved, a shower to wash off the sweat and makeup and just cool down felt like heaven.

I emerged twenty minutes later, feeling tired beyond belief but so fucking good. I lived for the music, for the shows like that when me and the guys were perfect and the audience was right there with us, feeding us back that amazing energy. I plopped down on the love seat and stretched out as best I could. We’d done all the publicity stuff earlier in the day, and with tomorrow as an actual day off, I could relax. In a little while, we’d move to the hotel, but for now, it was just nice to relax. Wind down a little.

Three quick raps on the door announced Cody’s arrival before he pushed into the room. His smile was weary but somehow bright, and his blue eyes twinkled as he looked at me. Luke and I had started the band in our garage fifteen years ago, but Cody had joined us just before we hit it big five years ago. We’d been signed to a label, but our drummer had to go. Asshole couldn’t keep time, but he was the best we could find at the time. The label had brought in a plethora of musicians, but Cody was by far the best. He fit in with me, Luke, Celia, and Sarah seamlessly and The Lost Boys had shot to fame.

I couldn’t quite pinpoint the moment I’d gone from just lusting after his beefy, drummer arms to wanting to so much more. He was beautiful and amazing, but even more than that he was funny, intelligent, and incredibly sweet. He was everything I wanted and some time in the past five years, I’d stopped sleeping with whoever threw themselves in my path, to wanting only him. My heart always gave that little leap whenever he gave me his attention. I did my best to rein it in, to not let it show. Not only because I wasn’t entirely sure how he’d react, but because sleeping with a bandmate was not a good idea. Not if it was just a fling. That way led to problems.

I didn’t want just a fling, but it was safer to keep it to myself.

“Mike!” Cody’s grin grew till I thought his face would split. “Fucking awesome show, man!”

I couldn’t help the answering grin. I held out a fist so he could bump it with his as he flopped down beside me. I sat up so he could have room even though all I wanted was to stretch out across him. I distracted myself by reaching for a long neck bottle of beer sitting in the tub of ice on the table. I twisted off the cap, and then hissed in pain as I caught my finger on the edge of the cap. The callus on my middle finger had split during the second encore when we’d launched into the extended rendition of our first, and still biggest, hit “When The Dust Settles.”

“You okay?” Cody sat up straight and reached for my head. “Let me see.”

I stared in shock as he cradled my hand gently in his own. When he ran his fingers lightly over the pads of my fingers, I sucked in a breath, my gaze shooting to his. Cody’s smile was gentle, and he moved his fingers to rub my palm.

“Such strong hands,” he murmured.

“Cody?”

“So.” He blew out a breath. “We’ve been dancing around this for a long while now. At least I have. And I see the way you look at me sometimes, so I’m hoping…”

“Yeah.” I slid closer, drawn forward by his gaze. He curled his fingers around mine, pulling me along. As soon as I was close enough, he grabbed me and pulled me right into him, reaching up and cupping my head. He slid his fingers into my hair, and I all but melted under his touch.

“Tell me what you want.”

It was a command, and I didn’t know he had that in him, but I obeyed. “Want you. But not just once. Once won’t be enough. So if that’s not what you want then you need to–”

Cody kissed me. With such force and emotion, I knew without a doubt, he wanted exactly the same thing.

**Another prompt! Two EMTs meet for drinks after a horrendous day. Enjoy!**

It had been a shit day. No, worse than shit. The worst freaking day I’d ever had on the job. And that was saying something, because I’d been an EMT for going on fifteen years.

We’d been going nonstop since we clocked in this morning, and an eight hour shift had turned into twelve when an accident on the freeway turned into a seven car pile up. I was exhausted, not only from that last part, but from the rest of the day. We’d lost two heart attack patients en route despite Paul’s masterful driving and the sirens blaring. A child burned by boiling water I was afraid wouldn’t pull through. A young man, dressed in pink and glitter, beaten almost beyond recognition. At least he’d given me a smile before he passed out.

Worst day I’d ever had, and I knew Paul was feeling the strain just as badly. He was silent as he restocked the bus, making sure we once again had plenty of gauze, IV tubing, needles, gloves. We’d gone through more than average today. And my usually chatty partner wasn’t saying a word, banging around in the back.

I caught him when he jumped down, boots thudding on the concrete floor of the bay. He looked up at me with a vacant stare in his usually warm brown eyes.

“Hey, let’s head over to Jake’s and have a beer.”

Paul scowled and shook his head. “I’m… nah. I’m just gonna head home.”

That’s exactly what he didn’t need. I knew Paul better than he thought, and he needed to decompress some before he closed himself up at home. Otherwise, the images from today would haunt him. I wanted to avoid that at all costs, if I could.

I took a step closer into his space, almost crowding him up against he back of the bus, but not quite. He glanced around quickly. “Martin.”

“It’s fine,” I soothed. “But come meet me at Jake’s, okay? Just a beer. Maybe some wings. Just to wind down.”

It took him a minute to agree, but then he gave a nod and pushed away, striding toward the locker room so he could get out of his uniform. I gave him a good ten minutes before following him in. By that time, he was almost done, and ready to head out. He gave me a wave, called to a few other guys, and left. I went about my business and then did the same, driving right to the bar that was halfway between my place and the station.

I was relieved to see Paul’s beat up Bronco in the lot.

I found him inside, slumped at a table in the corner with a plate of nachos and two bottles of beer. I slid in across from him. He spared me a quick glance, but he kept his gaze focused on his food.

“You all right?” I kept my voice low, just loud enough to be heard over the ambient din. Jake’s wasn’t overly crowded at this time on a Tuesday night. The weekends were different. But there was a reason it was our preferred hang out.

“Yeah.” Paul blew out an explosive breath and finally looked at me. He offered a weak smile. “I will be. Just, man, a hell of a day.”

“Yeah, it was.” I leaned forward. “When we get home, I’ll help you forget the day. Maybe a long bath, hm? Or just right to bed. What do you say?”

The last of the tension drained out of him, and he sat back with a smile. Fifteen years on the job together, ten years of loving and living with him, I knew exactly what he needed. We’d had to keep it quiet at work just because they would have split us up had they known we were anything more than roommates. Truth was, they probably did know, but since we were careful not to flaunt it, and it never affected our performance, they looked the other way.

“Thanks, babe.” Paul’s voice was soft, and he slouched down a bit so he could push his foot against my ankle. Let me know he was there. “That sounds perfect.”

I nodded, reached out, and squeezed his hand quickly before I scooped up up some nachos. “Enjoy the beer and the nachos. Watch the game. And then I’ll meet you at home and we’ll take care of each other.”

A grateful sigh, a small smile, and Paul settled in to do just that. I watched him more than the game. Anything he needed, I would do. And I knew I’d be happy to do that for the rest of my life.

Paul glanced at me and the look I got, the flash of love and gratitude, let me know he was happy to do the same.

**One last time with Travis and Noah. A little follow up. Enjoy!**

I glanced over at Travis as we worked, keeping an eye on him. He’d been strangely quiet for the last few hours, and he kept touching the ring on his left hand. Even though he hadn’t taken it off since I’d put it on his finger Christmas Eve, he hadn’t gotten used to it in the past week and a half. Or maybe it was something more than that. Maybe he was having second thoughts. I knew he loved me to the depths of his soul, had for a long time, but that didn’t mean he was ready for this step, right?

Okay, I knew that was foolish. From all the conversations we had, Travis had been ready to marry me for years. He was just waiting for me to get to that place. I finally got there a couple of months ago, but I wanted to make a spectacle of it, wanted to replace the bad memories of last Christmas Eve with much better ones. The best ones.

But he was quiet in a way he never was, and he kept pausing to fiddle with his ring, and I couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Sweetheart?” I kept my voice soft because he was lost in thought, and holding the crystal star from the top of the tree, and I didn’t want to startle him. But he looked up immediately, question in those beautiful blue eyes. “You having second thoughts?”

His brow creased in confusion, and I fought to keep the smile off my face. Instead, I pointedly glanced down at his hands, where his right fingers were fiddling with that ring again. Even though I knew that wasn’t the case, I’d deliberately asked it so he’d get cranky and share what was really going on in his head. After half a lifetime together, even though we’d spent most of that as friend, I knew my man, and I knew the quickest way to get to the heart of things.

It took him a second to catch my meaning, but as soon as he did, he dropped his hands and scowled hard at me. “No. Don’t be stupid. Of course I’m not having second thoughts. What kind of fucking question is that?”

I tucked the garland I was holding away in the box and stepped closer, reaching out. Travis immediately put the star down and pulled me into his arms. I settled in with a sigh. We fit so well together, and it always felt exactly right to be snuggled in his arms. He squeezed me tightly, kissed the side of my head, then smacked my shoulder as he let me go.

“What the hell, Noah?”

I laughed a little then, and bumped him with my hip. “You’re quiet. Keep messing with your ring. I have to wonder.”

He looked me straight in the eye. “No you don’t. Not ever. Right?”

I grinned then. As soon as we were done, I was going to bend that man over the couch and take him hard. “Right. So. What’s up?”

Travis stilled for a moment, then shrugged, and went back to unwrapping the lights from the tree. “I hate undecorating. It’s depressing.”

“Undecorating?” I snorted out a laugh.

“Shut up.” He cracked a tiny smile as he wound the lights carefully around his arm so they wouldn’t tangle up in storage. “Just, you know. Christmas decorating, having you here with me. I’ve wanted that for so long. So taking it all down…kinda sad.”

I didn’t bother to point out that he was being sappy. I liked it when he got that way. “Yeah. True. Except we’re going to have a lifetime of Christmases. So taking it down is fine, right? Because we’re just going to put it all up again in a eleven months. Over and over again. For the next fifty years.”

Travis’s eyes went dark, love and lust making his pupils dilate. “Only fifty?”

I shrugged one shoulder. “After that, our grandkids will do it for us.”

It had been exactly the right thing to say. Travis’s gaze was so filled with love I nearly dropped to my knees. And then, while I was down there, I’d drag him close and blow him. He knew exactly what I was thinking, because he always did, and his expression turned wicked.

“I love you, baby,” he said with a soft voice. And then it turned as filthy as his gaze. “Last one in the bedroom gets to bottom.”

I took off, knowing he was trailing behind. As usual, we were right there in sync, both of us wanting opposite roles. We very rarely, if ever, had an issue where that was concerned.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, I grabbed him, pulled him into me and lifted up so I could kiss him breathless. When we pulled apart, he panted breathlessly against my lips, pupils blown and dick pressing hard into my abdomen. “I love you too. Forever and always. Strip and get on the bed.”

He laughed and did as I asked, and I grinned as I got naked too. I had no doubt we’d have this for the rest of our lives.

**Here’s some more with Travis and Noah. Last week they decorated their tree. This week it’s all about the gifts. Enjoy! And Happy Holidays!!**

The house was full to bursting with every member of my family. The kids were running around creating havoc with Gianna as the ring leader. Even the babies were in on the action. Micah was the smallest and youngest, but he even had his part to play. I watched them run around, my sister Marielle riding herd and trying to keep any one of them from getting injured, maimed, or worse, in trouble with Nana. My older brother Nick was helping, occasionally managing to wrangle a baby and keep them occupied for minutes at a time. The rest of my siblings, and assorted spouses, were watching with amusement while my mother tried to feed everyone, my nonna chastised in rapid-fire Italian, and my father looked on indulgently. It was basically another Christmas Eve in the Mastriano household and I loved it.

The children were getting restless, and pretty soon, we’d have to start opening gifts. With or without Travis. He’d had no choice but to work the holiday, but he’d lucked out and not only snagged a shift on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas day, it had also been an earlier shift. He’d been scheduled to finish at five, and then his plan had been to go home, change out of his uniform and be at my parents house about six.

It was now almost seven.

I wasn’t exactly worried. As a trooper, any number of things could have come up to keep him on shift. And keep him from texting me saying he was going to be late. Unless he was dragging his feet on purpose. Travis had every good reason to be wary of the Christmas Even celebration at my parents. Last year had not gone very well. In the end, it had worked out. Mostly. And I knew he’d be here. He said he would, and the man never lied or went back on his word. But I could understand if Travis was reluctant.

My phone let out a snippet from a carol, letting me know I had a text, and a glance at the screen showed it was from my boyfriend. Travis didn’t elaborate but he did say he was sorry and that he’d be here in twenty minutes. I was sure he’d tell me later what exactly had held him up. In the meantime, I let my mother know Travis was on his way, and she set Nonna and the kids the task of sorting the presents.

Travis made it in nineteen minutes, and I met him at the door with a kiss and a hug. I didn’t want him walking into the packed living room alone. He held me extra tight for a long minute, and then together we entered the chaos. It took us a while to work our way across the room, because everyone had hugs, kisses, and Merry Christmases for Travis. By the time we made it back to the couch, Joe had procured Travis a plate of food. My mother wouldn’t allow the gift opening to go on until Travis was fed, and Joe was trying to expedite the process. Travis gave him a grateful smile, a fist bump, and settled down into the corner of the couch, making sure there wasn’t space to breathe between us.

All I could do was smile.

An hour and a half later, all the kids were happily entranced by new toys, and we were halfway through opening the adult gifts. Since we had the tradition of the youngest starting and moving up through the ranks, quite a lot of presents had been opened. Nick had just finished, which meant that Travis was up next, since he was a few months younger than Joe. Nerves fluttered in my stomach as Travis reached for my mother’s gift first. She spend all year knitting, sewing, or otherwise crafting gifts for the entire family, and I knew it meant a lot to Travis. His own family couldn’t be bothered with presents even when he was a child, so that my mom took the time and put the thought in was special to him. I wasn’t suprised that he picked up that one first. But that he had made my pulse pick up.

I knew what was inside.

Travis ripped off the paper, then opened the box with a sort of reverence one didn’t usually reserve for gifts. The mittens inside were a rich, cobalt blue. I’d picked the yarn from Mom’s stash three months ago. She’d thrummed them, adding wool to the inside to make them especially warm. And the outside was decorated with an intricate cable. They’d be mittens he wore when it was negative fifteen degrees out and the sidewalk needed to be shoveled.

“Thank you, Angela,” he murmured, awe in his voice. He hadn’t been able to call her “mom” the way she used to insist upon since the year before, and even though I could see a little bit of hurt around my mom’s eyes, she understood. It had taken them awhile to get back to where they’d once been, though they weren’t quite there. Her behavior last year had been forgiven but not entirely forgotten.

“You’re welcome, honey.”

Travis slipped them on, as we all knew he would, and my heart literally skipped a beat as adrenaline flooded my system. I saw the moment he realized something was inside, his eyes went wide, and shot to my mom. Slowly, he pulled his hand out, and then stared in utter shock at the ring he had caught with his pointer finger.

My mom smiled, a little of the sadness leaving her eyes. “It was my father’s.”

Travis’s mouth gaped open, and then he shut it and swallowed hard. “Angela, I don’t…what?”

I took that as my cue and dropped down onto my knee before him. I looked up at him, his bright blue eyes shiny with tears, love and affection all over his face, and fell in love with him all over again.

He knew how I felt about him. How hard I loved him, and how much I wanted him in my life. We talked about it all the time, and never lost and opportunity to tell each other. So as I knelt before him, and took his left hand in mine, I only had to say two words.

“Marry me?”

“Absolutely.” He let me take the ring and slide it onto his finger, then he yanked me up so that he could kiss me hard and fast. When we pulled apart, we were both a bit misty eyed, and couldn’t seem to tear our gazes away from each other.

“Love you, baby.”

“And I love you.”