Part 6 of the story of Dan & Ake. As always, I recommend you read the previous parts as this one likely won't make sense.
Ake -
"Bye! Love you!" he called out waving his phone in the air before answering it.
"Hello, this is Dan. Hey Mark. No, I'm on my way into the office now." I lost sight of him in the garage when the door closed. Soon enough, his truck backed out and he drove away, his hand waving out the window before he turned to go down the road.
He loves me? Is that like, 'love' love, or just a 'hey, love you buddy!'?
Sighing, I turned and walked back into the house. I made my way from the kitchen to the bedroom, cleaning up after the two of us as I went. I knew most of it was his own mess, but I didn't mind doing a little straightening since I was gathering my things as well.
I put our towels in a hamper, including the ones I'd used the previous night.
That wonderful, amazing night when Dan made love to me!
I felt my cock twitch at the memory, and my heart fluttered a bit as I recalled what we'd done the night before.
I made the bed and straightened up the rest of the room. I took our mugs into the kitchen and washed those out as well. Gathering up my last few things, I left the house, locking the door behind me.
I smiled all the way home, humming along to the radio.
That night, I knocked on Katie and Mila's door promptly at 5:30 PM.
"Ake! Please come in!" Mila answered the door, Sebastian firmly against her hip.
I hugged her and followed her into the house where I hugged Katie as well. I handed her the two bottles of wine I'd brought.
"Ooh, the good stuff! Are we celebrating something?" She asked as she turned to walk into the kitchen.
"I stayed at Dan's last night." I blurted before I'd caught myself.
Katie froze and Mila turned to stare at me.
Katie turned slowly to face me. "I'm sorry, one more time?"
I blushed. "I was with Dan last night." I said more quietly.
"You'll have to forgive my ignorance, but what do you mean by 'with', exactly?" Katie asked.
I smiled. I couldn't help it. Just the thought of Dan and I was smiling, and maybe starting to tear up.
"Oh my god, Ake! I'm so happy for you!" Katie came back to the room and hugged me awkwardly while holding the two bottles. Mila came over and did the same. Little Sebastian even patted my chest while we all stood so close together, causing the three of us to laugh.
"Come! Dinner's about ready and I want details!"
"Well..." I started.
"Oh, not those details, just general 'with' details" she made clumsy air quotes with her fingers while still holding the bottles.
I laughed and followed her into the dining room.
The rest of the night they peppered me with questions. If I didn't know they had my best interests at heart, I would have been uncomfortable.
"So what now?" Mila asked
"Honestly, I don't know." I said.
They were silent while I considered it. "I think I'm going to have to give him a bit of space so he can make sure this is what he wants."
"I hate to ask this, Ake, but what if it's not?" Katie asked, gently.
I sighed. "Then I'll be spending some hard hours on that couch." I gestured over my shoulder with my thumb.
"And we'll get through it." Mila said.
"But we'll start with hoping it's something real." Katie said.
I raised my wine glass. "To something real!"
Dan -
Around lunch, I slipped out for a quick bite. I wasn't going to take a full hour since I'd arrived so late, but I at least wanted to make a call with some privacy.
"Hey, Danny boy! What's up?"
"Hey Finn. What're you up to, tonight?" I asked.
"I was supposed to go on a super hot date with my super hot woman, but she's got a work function so I'm not seeing her until 10 or something. Why?"
"Let's get food."
"Sure. Where and when?"
"Uhhh...fuck it. The pub at 5:30?"
"See you then!"
The rest of the afternoon, I was mildly panicked and I couldn't figure out why. Hell, Finn was gay, why would she care if I was seeing Ake? But no matter how I justified it all, I still felt slightly nauseous.
Thankfully work was slow since the project release was only dealing with minor issues.
I slipped out at 5:00 PM with a reminder for them to call me if anything hit the fan.
I drove to the pub and, finding myself there first, ordered a beer and sat down at a booth toward the back.
Twenty minutes later, I saw Finn arrive. I waved at her and pointed at my bottle. She nodded and veered off to the bar. A minute later she set two beers down and flopped into the seat across from me.
"What's up fuck nugget? Project all done and happy?" She asked before taking a long pull of her beer.
I shook my head. "Yeah, project's live and there are only minor issues. If they stay this minor, I'll be done by Wednesday. Otherwise just one more week."
"Well then, to one more week!" She raised her bottle and clinked it against mine before finishing it.
"Hey there y'all, can I get you something else to drink or something to eat?"
"Hey, Kitty." I said to our usual waitress. "I'm good, but I think Finn here could use another beer."
"Or two." Finn said, burping into her fist.
"Or two. I think a couple bacon cheeseburgers with fries will do, yeah?" I asked Finn.
"Sounds great to me. Beers and burgers, I'm happy!"
Kitty snickered and walked off with our order.
Finn and I caught up a bit. It had only been about a week since we'd seen each other last, though we really didn't talk much. Eventually the food showed up. Knowing what was coming, I ordered another beer.
The food was done and gone and I was barely paying attention to what Finn was saying, just picking at the label on the beer bottle.
"...crocodile thongs and nuclear jetpacks."
"Nuclear what?" I asked.
"I wondered if you were paying attention." She said.
"Sorry, got a little distracted." I admitted.
"Yeah, no shit." She said, gesturing to the small pile of crumpled wet label.
I sighed. "Ake stayed the night last night."
"Cool." Finn finished her bottle and made eye contact with Kitty, waving the bottle and pointing at it with her other hand.
"That's it? Just 'cool'?"
Finn shrugged. "What, should we be celebrating? Commiserating? Should I alert the community that we got another one?"
"Fuck you Finn. I don't know, this is just sort of a big deal to me."
"Sorry. I didn't want to make you uncomfortable. And besides. It doesn't bother me who you date."
I sighed. "I know. And part of me loves you for that. I think I'm just still struggling to accept it."
"Wait. So he stayed the night."
"Yes."
"And I presume you kissed each other."
I paused. "Yes."