Denial and Acceptance

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."

"And other stuff?"

I nodded.

"A lot of other stuff?"

I blushed. "Yes."

"Was it bad?"

"No, quite the opposite, really."

"So you enjoyed it."

I nodded.

"And I'm guessing you wouldn't mind if it happened again?"

I shook my head.

"Then the rest is details, man. I mean, I get there's some shit you need to resolve. I get that it'll probably take you a bit of time to come to grips with all of it. But the hardest part is over. You've walked the road and you enjoyed it."

"Well, I enjoyed my time with Ake, yes."

She waved her hand. "Semantics. What I'm saying is, you had what I assume is a lovely evening with a lovely person and you're looking forward to more lovely sex."

Just then Kitty walked up.

"Uhhh...anything else?"

Finn laughed. "No, I think we're good. Dan will take the check, though!" she said smiling as she took another drink of her beer.

I handed Kitty my card and she left to ring us out.

"To answer your question, you're right. I'm happier than I feel I have the right to be, but there's that little voice that keeps saying, 'but it's a guy'."

"Here you go." Kitty said as she set the receipt down in front of me.

Welp, no hiding now. I blushed and mumbled thanks.

Kitty wished us good night and wandered off to help her other customers.

Finn and I walked out into the evening air to our cars.

"Look, Dan. I'm happy for you. Having become recently monogamous myself, I think I understand the value of having that one person that you love to come home to."

I put my hand on her arm to stop her walking. "You love her?"

Now it was Finn's turn to blush. "Shit."

"Wait, she doesn't know?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"And you're lecturing me. Tell her, you dipshit."

She sighed. "I know. It's just that she's been busy lately and she hasn't said it yet, so I haven't been sure if I should say it because what if she doesn't say it."

I pulled Finn into a hug. She stiffened at first, then hugged me back.

"You love her Finn. What else is there to think about?"

"You're really annoying when you're happy." she grumped.

I laughed and nudged her toward her car. "Go. Tell her tonight when you see her."

"Maybe."

"Goodnight Finn."

"See ya, Dan."

I drove home, carefully. I wasn't drunk, but three beers in just under three hours pushed what I was comfortable with. I got home without incident and saw that Ake hadn't shown up. I checked my watch and saw that it was almost 9:00 PM.

I went inside and changed into shorts and a t-shirt. I had just sat down to find something to watch on TV when I heard the door open.

"Hello!"

"Hey, Ake! In here!"

I looked over and saw Ake waving to someone before he closed the door. He stumbled slightly as he walked toward me, shedding his jacket and dropping a bag on the floor. He walked around the couch and settled onto my lap, one leg on either side of me.

"H..." I opened my mouth to say 'hi', but he pressed his lips to mine. We kissed for a little while before he hummed and leaned against my chest. I wrapped my arms around him.

I kissed his head. "I take it you had fun with Katie and Mila."

"Mmm-hmm."

"And I'm guessing you had some drinks?"

"Wine."

"And they had to drop you off?"

He nodded against my chest. "Katie. She's still breastfeeding, so she can't drink."

I turned my body and laid back against the arm of the couch, dragging Ake with me. He adjusted himself until he was laying on me. I felt him wiggle a bit, then heard his shoes thump onto the floor.

He sighed and was still.

I rubbed his back through his shirt and just lay there with him in my arms. Soon enough, I fell asleep.

I twitched awake and saw the lights to the house were still on. I strained to reach my phone on the coffee table without disturbing Ake and saw that it was almost one in the morning.

I used my fingertips to move hair off Ake's face and tuck it behind his ear before kissing his head. I rubbed his cheek a little, then ran my thumb across his lips. He sighed and licked his lips.

"Ake" I said, quietly

"Hmmmm."

"Ake."

"What?" he mumbled.

"C'mon hon, it's time for bed."

"Carry me?"

"You have to let me up, first."

Ake sighed, and struggled to sit up. I slid out from under him and wandered around shutting off lights. I came back into the living room and he was leaning forward with his head in his hands, falling back asleep.

I pulled him to his feet, then picked him up in my arms, surprised at how light he felt.

"Hmmm...you smell good." He mumbled as he burrowed his face into my neck.

I smiled and carried him to the bedroom, awkwardly turning off the last light in the entry on the way.

I gently sat him down and started undressing him. I got his shirt off, took his socks off, then his pants. He lifted his butt to slip off the thong, which I helped him do.

He smiled and slithered under the covers. I got completely undressed and slid under the covers as well, sliding over until he was wrapped in my arms again.

One deep breath from both of us and we were fast asleep.

I woke to hear my phone ringing. I checked the time before answering.

"Hey Carl, why are you calling me at 6:30 in the morning? Please tell me you don't have testers working this early?"

"Hey Dan. I'm sorry to bother you, but we had two drives fail last night."

"Holy shit, two?"

"Yeah. I called the hardware folks, but no one's answering."

"Uhh, shit. Hold on, let me think."

I swung my legs over the edge of the bed before remembering Ake was still sleeping. I quickly got up and walked out of the bedroom so I wouldn't bother him anymore.

"Ok, you keep trying to call network and I'll put in a call to Susan."

"Susan? She left the project three weeks ago."

"Yeah, but she's been left on the books as a consultant in case something happens. I think this qualifies as something happening."

"Yeah, that's for sure. Ok. I'll keep calling."

"Ok, I'll call Susan and head in."

"Oh, Dan, that's not necessary."

"You sure?"

"Yeah I'm sure. There's not much us white collar folks can do, is there? Watch over their shoulder as they swap drives and reinstall a backup?"

"No, no you're right." I rubbed my face with my hand. "You work on getting hardware in. Even when Susan can start rebuilding, she'll need good drives to work from."

"On it. I should have thought of this. Sorry to bother you."

"No worries, Carl. You're one of the few I actually like over there. Call anytime."

I called Susan, who answered on the second ring. I filled her in on what was happening and she said she'd handle it. Before we'd hung up, she was already logged in and giving me an estimate on how long it would take her to get everything back up and running, once they had the drives installed.

I thanked her for jumping on it, then disconnected.

The adrenaline spike all but guaranteed I wouldn't be able to sleep, now.

But I could at least be comfortable. I walked back into the bedroom and saw Ake was sleeping on his back. I stood there and just looked at him for a little while.

The blanket had slid down far enough that the top of his crotch was showing.

I crawled back into bed and spooned up against him. He murmured and wiggled before turning so his back was to me.

A little while later, I woke up to see a pair of bright blue eyes staring at me.

"What?" I asked before turning and stretching.

"I'm just wondering if this is real and I'm a little scared I'm going to wake up to find it's not." He admitted.

I reached across and pinched his butt.

"Ow!" He yelped and clapped a hand on his butt where I'd pinched him.

"Hmm, you don't seem to be dreaming." I smiled.

Ake smiled before sitting up and turning into a partial 69. I say partial because he immediately took me into his mouth, but his lower body was sitting beside me instead of over me.

I groaned as I felt him start to work my cock with his talented mouth.

I reached over and pulled him across my body so his limp cock and balls were above my face.

I leaned up and sucked one of his balls into my mouth. I swirled my tongue around, moving across the skin and feeling his balls move against it.

He pulled his mouth off my cock and moaned appreciatively, all the while continuing to stroke me. As he sat up, his asshole lowered a bit, just enough that it was too tempting to ignore. I released his balls and moved my tongue up and across the wrinkly skin there.

"Oh, yes!" He exclaimed. He started sucking my cock with enthusiasm, the entire time trying to be sure he kept his ass in place so I could continue to lick it.

And lick it I did. At times I'd do long sweeping passes using the flat of my tongue. Other times I'd use the tip to work into the middle and back out to the edge. Sometimes I'd even harden it to a point and push it inside a little. I felt him push back against my face when I did that.

I felt myself getting close and warned him. He didn't slow down and, in face, seemed to be working even harder.

"Oh, I'm coming Ake!" I exclaimed, throwing my head back.

Just then, I felt my cock reach the barrier to his throat, then keep going. I felt Ake's nose push against my balls as the first spurts of cum launched straight down his throat.

"Oh, holy fuck!" I wrapped an arm around his waist and gripped him firmly, my orgasm racking my body with spasms.

Ake backed up until just the head of my cock was in his mouth. He swallowed the last bits of cum that leaked out before gently licking my cock clean. Finally, he turned around and cuddled back into my side.

He patted my chest. "Now go back to sleep. It's too early." He mumbled.

I did as he said, a smile plastered on my face.

Ake -

I woke with my head on Dan's shoulder. My arm was across his chest and my leg was all the way across his body. It seemed I'd partially mounted him in my sleep. I sighed and just lay there, relishing the feeling of him.

He snored lightly as he slept. I gently rubbed my hand around his chest as he slept.

Eventually he stirred and I felt him kiss the top of my head.

I looked up and his eyes met mine. I blushed, though I don't know why.

"Good morning." He said, and smiled.

"Morning." I said.

Eventually we got up and took turns in the bathroom. We didn't shower together this morning, though I didn't mind. I came out of the shower and threw on a pair of shorts and a tank top I'd brought and walked barefoot into the living room.

Dan was standing at the counter looking out the window to his back yard. A coffee cup was in his hand and another was sitting on the counter beside him. I hugged him with one arm while I picked up the coffee with the other.

"Any plans today?" I asked.

He shook his head. "I don't think so. There was an issue with work, but I set the right people on it, so it's being handled."

"Nothing else?

"Nope. I was thinking of going for a ride, though. Maybe pack a lunch? What do you think?"

"I think I'll run home and grab my bike and some food."

"How about you run home and get your things together. I'll ride over and meet you at your place and we'll go from there?"

I nodded and took a sip of coffee. "After coffee."

Dan laughed. "Yes, after coffee. It's only eight, anyway."

Dan and I spent as much time together as our schedules allowed the following few days. As the week progressed, I found myself quite happy, for the most part.

At the end of the day, Thursday, Katie walked into my office while I was finishing up some paperwork. I was leaving the following evening, late, and wanted to be sure all my patients were ready to be handed off before I left.

"Hey, Ake."

"Hi Katie. One sec, I just need to finish this note."

Katie sat down and patiently waited until I finished the file, saved it, and closed out.

"What's up?" I asked.

"You seem pretty happy."

I nodded. "I am."

She looked at me for a moment before standing and stepping over to close my door.

"Pretty happy, but not entirely happy."

I sighed. She'd seen through me again. "Well, no one's ever entirely happy." I deflected.

"You can't fool me, Ake. What is it?"

I waved my hand. "It's nothing, I promise."

Katie folded her arms over her chest. "Then talk about it before it becomes something. We love having you around, Ake, but we'd prefer our home visits to be happy. We prefer you to be happy."

She'd emphasized the "you" and pointed at me when she said it.

I considered a moment more before remembering she was one of my closest friends. I fidgeted a little while considering how to say it.

"Dan and I haven't been...intimate...since that first night." I said in a rush.

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"I don't know how to bring it up without it sounding accusatory." I admitted.

"Have you tried initiating anything?"

"Katie..." Already uncomfortable with the entire conversation, I hoped she wouldn't go into details.

"It's a valid question, Ake."

I shook my head. "I, umm...I don't want to scare him away."

Katie considered for a minute. "So everything else is ok?"

I nodded.