Who's Your Daddy?

Chapter 22

"So, have you given any thought to what we talked about?" Bruce asked. "You know, the 'us' stuff?"

Michael chewed more slowly in order to buy time.

"I know it freaks you out," Bruce continued. "It freaks me out too. It scares the shit out of me, actually. But I know I like you. You're my best friend. And when we get together...you know, like 'get together,' it's good. So I'm like, what are we waiting for?"

Michael finished chewing and swallowed his food. He wiped some spicy mayonnaise from his lips.

"Can I ask you something, though?" Michael said.

Bruce nodded.

"Why do you want something different from what we already have? Why do you want it to be so official? That doesn't even seem like you."

"Because..." Bruce said with his voice raised. Then he took a breath. "Because..." he continued, more softly, "...for me, more and more, I look at my life and I just want it to start moving in some kind of direction. I've given it a lot of thought and I don't really want to spend my whole life like I've been doing. It's not just about hook-ups for me anymore. I don't know why I'm feeling this way now. Maybe it's the shit with my mom. But I just have this feeling that I want something more, something with someone. And—O.K., here's the corny part—it would be cool if that someone was you. Like I said, you're my best friend."

Bruce stopped talking, looked away, and took a long sip of water. Michael remained quiet. His last conversation like this had been with Jimmy and that had turned out disastrously. But this was different. For one, he knew there'd be no big surprises with Bruce. Michael knew Bruce through and through, what he liked about him and what got on his nerves. On the one hand, this was comforting. But on the other hand, it also made it harder for him to completely give in to the idea of being with him. A little bit of mystery definitely helped when it came to relationships. When you didn't already know everything about a person, you could see a relationship as a potentially transformative journey rather than some predictable stroll down a frequently traveled path.

But then maybe predictability wasn't such a bad thing, especially given recent events. There were so many things that he knew for sure about Bruce, good things. He knew that Bruce would always have his back. Despite his many irritating faults, Bruce was solid.

Michael also knew that Bruce wanted many of the same things he himself wanted, like a feeling that his life was going somewhere. Michael knew that Bruce was offering a chance at happiness. Michael wondered: "How many chances does life give you to be happy? How many chances do you get to not be alone?"

"Maybe we should give it a shot," Michael said.

He looked up at Bruce. Michael had never seen his smile so brightly.

After dinner, they headed back to Bruce's place, high on hope. Bruce lifted Michael as they entered the living room, and they kissed for a long time with Bruce's hands cupped under Michael's ass. Slowly, Bruce moved them into the bedroom, then down onto the mattress.

"I want you to fuck me tonight," Bruce said.

"What? Really? I thought you never got fucked." Michael said, sitting up in the bed.

"Yeah. But tonight I think we should do something different, special."

"If you say so," said Michael.

They took off their clothes in a horny frenzy, with an assortment of socks, boxers, jeans, and shirts flying about the room. Michael grabbed a condom and a small tube of lube from a drawer on the nightstand. He put the condom on his already hard dick. Bruce was down on all fours at the edge of the bed.