The ABO Serum

What is Love?

That night the boys fell asleep in their own beds. Or rather, the younger two fell asleep in the car and Jonathan carried them to their own beds, and after spending quality time with both fathers Josiah felt secure enough to sleep on his own again. Jonathan missed his little chaperones as he prepared to sleep alone with his mate for the first time.

"I won't touch you until you're ready," Lance promised, and Jonathan believed him. The problem was Jonathan feared his body would be ready before his heart and mind were. He was constantly aware of the scent of his mate. The wet dreams he'd had in quarantine kept pressing their way into his consciousness. He couldn't put it off long, so he decided to confront the heart issues before his body lost control.

"That's not really my concern," he said. "I believe you. Mostly, I think we need to talk about some serious things that we've been avoiding because the kids were there or by text didn't seem appropriate."

"Yes," Lance agreed. "It would help me to know how to support you if I knew how things went at the church today."

"They went well," Jonathan smiled again. "Really well. They want me to stay. But I've got a lot of studying ahead of me to understand how to minister to my congregation through this. My first sermon back will be this Sunday. I...," he trailed off leaving Lance curious.

"You what?" He asked.

Sincere blue eyes looked up at Lance as Jonathan finished what he had wanted to say but been afraid, "I would like you to be there. I know you don't believe in God and I cannot expect from you the type of support pastors and their churches usually get from a pastor's wife. It's often viewed as a team job. But it would mean a great deal to me if you brought the boys to church on Sunday mornings. I'm usually up and out extra early to prepare, so Stephanie always brought them over later at the regular start time. It's practical support, but also...it would just mean a lot to me to have you there. To know that you were willing to listen to me even though you disagree, and show the congregation your face, that you're not ashamed of me, nor I of you. It's a lot to ask. If you don't want to..."

"Yes, I want to. I want to show the congregation that I care about you and I'm proud of you and that two people don't have to agree to support each other. You're right that I can't be a regular pastor's wife. I can't join you in ministry and I'm not gonna go to every special meeting you call. But I will bring the boys on Sunday mornings." He paused for a moment and then added, "and I will volunteer for practical ministry, like feeding poor people and stuff that we should be doing no matter what we believe." That brought Jonathan's smile out again, along with his tears.

"Thank you," Jonathan whispered. "I never thought I could trust my heart to someone who didn't believe like me. Stephanie was the perfect pastor's wife, but it was all a lie. It's...I'd rather have you, who make your beliefs plain, and still show up for me where you can."

"Hey," Lance pulled the pastor into his arms. "I really want this to work for us. I may not believe in God, but I believe in you." And he realized he did. His omega was sincere and wholehearted.

That was the word he'd been trying to think of, wholehearted. Lance grew up surrounded by love, from his family, from his peers, even his opponents admired him. He had no hole in his heart that needed filling. But all the girls he'd dated and played around with did. They wanted him to plug the holes in their self-worth. Jonathan's wife betraying him, hadn't left a hole. He would probably say it was his faith that filled all the holes in his life, but whatever it was, it allowed them to meet as equals. And the pastor could trust Lance with his beautiful intact heart. He'd said as much. Wait...did that mean he loved Lance? Or just that he was open to the possibility of loving Lance?

Lance hadn't expected love out of this arrangement. He professed to have no understanding of romantic love. But he realized he did. Of course he did. He'd been so well loved his whole life that he recognized it, but he called it wrong. Romantic love was a combination of family love and desire. The desire came quickly and the family love slow, but it was all mixed together now. He wanted to fuck Jonathan senseless, and he also wanted to protect and care for him for the rest of his life. He wanted to serve him candlelit dinners, and he wanted to lay in the bed next to his in a nursing home someday. He wanted to have boring parenting conversations with him year after year while the boys grew up, and then lament together their absence when they moved out. He should tell this to Jonathan instead of just thinking it.

He was still holding the pastor tight against his chest as he processed all his emotions around this. After a long silence he whispered, "You can trust your heart to me. Please, trust your heart to me. I promise to hold it with utmost care. I've fallen in love with you Jonathan. I really have. So be all mine, body and heart and everything else. And I will be all yours. Never a scrap of me for anyone else for as long as we live. I swear to you right here and now. I will repeat this vow for the world to witness when we can finally wed, but it is true from this moment. I will love, honor, and cherish you, in sickness and health, in good times and bad. It's just you and me and God if he's really there, but I will consider myself the husband of your heart from this moment if you will agree."

Pressing the side of his face against Lance's warm chest, Jonathan answered, "I agree, and promise before God to love, honor, and cherish you, too, in sickness and health, through good times and bad, for richer or poorer, as long as we both live. I will consider myself the husband of your heart from this moment." Lance pushed Jonathan away enough to look into his eyes and see his sincerity. Then the pastor added, "Please kiss me."

The undertone of neediness in that last plea undid Lance. He brought Jonathan's lips to his own and sealed their vows with the most incredible kiss of his entire life. He couldn't even remember any of the others anymore. They'd been mere physical pressing of two mouths together and tangling of tongues. This was a blending of two souls. A single shared life passed back and forth between their lips.

That night he made slow careful love to his omega, his husband the pastor, Jonathan Hartley-Rosenfeld, well, as soon as they could make it legal. He'd never made love to someone who was crying before, but he understood the tears. His were falling too.

They weren't just having sex. They were coming together and joining themselves for the rest of their lives. Every thrust was like a promise, home, family, raising the children together, maybe more children, graduations, weddings, grandchildren, retirement, sharing a headstone in Memorial Park someday. Lance felt no hesitation to give himself completely and Jonathan received and believed him and echoed it all back.

The pastor wondered if women felt like this, receiving a man. His position was submissive, but he felt powerful. Lance poured out every bit of himself and was completely vulnerable in this act. He knew. He'd been there. A cross word from his wife during sex could wreck him. He screamed his own orgasm as Lance came inside him and knotted. Then whispered, "Thank you. Thank you for loving me."

Then, they both stopped moving and became dead silent, realizing how noisy they'd been and listening to see if they disturbed the boys. They got lucky this time, but Lance thought to himself that added sound proofing was in order.