Page 55 of Love Lessons

Dustin pressed one more kiss to his open palm. It hadn’t escaped his notice that gestures like that, the ones that were more romantic than sensual or sexual, made Landon nervous.

So he kept reminding himself that this might be temporary.

You finish the salad and I’ll dip the fruit, he told Landon in mock annoyance.

Landon stuck his tongue out, which was even funnier when he was wearing his incongruously grown-up clothes. I don’t really like chocolate that much anyway.

Really? He couldn’t tell if he meant it or was just being difficult.

Landon huffed. Dustin had no idea why he found that so adorable. Yes, really. Can you leave some of them without chocolate?

Dustin gathered him close and gave him a slow, tender kiss. Of course. We’ll leave plenty for you.

Landon nuzzled in closer, fitting perfectly into his arms.

Dustin reminded himself that even if this ended, he could use this time to let Landon know that he saw him. That Landon was desirable and desired. That he could be himself.

Dustin wanted to leave an imprint.

Eventually Dustin went back to coating the strawberries and bananas while Landon chopped vegetables. They couldn’t talk with their backs to each other. But it was a comfortable moment. A calm togetherness.

Dustin was starting to regret inviting other people over. Even though he wanted Zhong to meet Landon, and for Landon to make more friends, he wished he hadn’t chosen their second date/not-date for it.

And that was the moment when the doorbell rang. Dustin startled but Landon, of course, didn’t even look up.

Doorbell, he explained. I’ll be right back.

Zhong and Ash happened to arrive at the same time. Dustin gave Zhong a full body hug, feeling the larger man melt into him, and then greeted Ash.

Ash was wearing another work of art, a sort of dress-suit-thing with newsprint fabric and what looked like singed circular holes. It was probably supposed to make some sort of statement, but he wasn’t sure what it was.

Ash handed him a six pack of fancy, natural sodas. I don’t drink, they explained, but I thought everyone might enjoy this.

Sure, looks good. Come on in. Zhong had already made his way into the kitchen.

Dustin was going to make introductions, but it looked like they’d already taken care of it.

How do you pronounce your name? Landon was asking.

Zhong chuckled. Deaf people asked him this surprisingly often if they thought they were going to have to voice it. My name’s Z-H-O-N-G, he turned to include Ash in the conversation, and I’ve been Deaf since birth, so I really have no idea what it sounds like. But if you ever had a speech therapist make you say “azure” or “garage,” he held a hand to his throat to demonstrate, until you wanted to punch them, apparently it sounds like that.

Everyone cracked up, and after that it was a fun evening. He and Landon had made a bunch of finger foods that were easy to eat while they were sitting around the coffee table and playing board games.

They started out playing Scrabble and Dustin kept his foot pressed to the outside of Landon’s ankle. They didn’t talk about it, but Landon looked up at him and smiled whenever he ran his toes along his calf.

Dustin lost horribly, which he had known he would. He was only surprised to discover that Ash won the game instead of Zhong.

After that, they switched to playing Codenames. Since they were playing on teams, he got to pull Landon in next to him, and even feed him a bite or two. He was totally tanking the game, since he couldn’t focus for long enough to think of useful combinations of words. And he kind of didn’t care.

He slipped piece of banana, free of chocolate coating, into Landon’s mouth and then kissed his nose.

Something hit him on the cheek, though. You guys are disgusting, Ash complained good naturedly.

Landon picked up the crumpled napkin and lobbed it back. I told you I saw him first.

Yeah, but if I knew he was going to go all Daddy on you instead of being a one-night stand, I would have fought you for him harder.

Dustin could feel Landon tensing up in his arms. Dammit. But what had set him off? The one-night stand? The Daddy part? He didn’t even really understand the Daddy thing. But he was sure as fuck going to before he saw Landon again.