Counting Minutes | Gay MxM |

65. Bright Future

"Morning," Blake murmured with a smile, pulling me into a tight hug and letting out a content breath. "I could use yoga now," he added, and chuckled while stretching his marvelous body.

"You overdid yourself last night," I muttered back. "I didn't know human could bend that way."

He laughed, making me laugh as well.

"Neither did I," he smirked, pulling out my volume of Kama Sutra under his pillow and peered at the cover. "It sure is a fun book."

Blake hid the book in the nightstand and turned to look at me. "How long have you been up?"

I was about to answer him, but my stomach let out a demanding growl.

"Oh, I see," he chuckled and bounced off the bed. "Let's get you fed, shall we?"

After taking a shower and eating a big breakfast, we lounged on the couch, watching Blake's favorite cartoons. He had missed out on watching them growing up, so I never had the heart to suggest something else. But after a few hours, I was getting so energetic I was almost unable to stay still, and he noticed it.

"You look like you're ready to run a marathon," he chuckled, turning off the TV.

"I honestly feel like I could run a marathon," I replied.

"Lucky for you, I'm very good at running," he said, winking at me playfully. "Well, at least I used to be," he added, patting his stomach.

I could almost picture him running for his life with faceless gangsters on his tail... Or cops. Or dogs.

"Maybe one day we can run a marathon," I said, pushing the dreadful thoughts out of my head.

"Definitely," he replied.

I stared at him, his goofy grin and kind eyes. I knew why I was feeling so energetic. I wanted to leave my room again, and see the entire house, especially the first floor. Blake's parents were coming to visit us soon, and I wanted to be there when they walked through the front door. I wanted to stand right next to Blake when he could finally hug his own parents for the first time in two decades.

And in order to do so, I needed to be comfortable with my own home.

"Let's go downstairs," I suggested, barely able to contain my excitement.

"Okay," he smiled, like what I just asked was the most normal thing in our life, and it made me feel so good.

"Let's go get dressed," I smirked, and got up from the couch, pulling him with me.

As we were making our long way down to the second floor, we talked about what made that particular moment scary for me, and just being able to voice my fears made everything easier. That was one of the reasons why I was glad to have Blake here with me. Just to be able to talk to him and not have to deal with the scary things on my own was so unbelievably empowering. With his help, I could understand the fear and have the strength to do my best to ignore it instead of letting it consume me.

When we stopped at the top of the next staircase, and he held my hand tightly in his, I wasn't afraid. Well, just a little bit, but it wasn't going to stop me. I knew why I was scared: I couldn't control any of this. I didn't even know what the first floor looked like. And I was also afraid of how I would react... But I didn't have to control anything, no matter how hard my mind tried to convince me otherwise. I now had faith in myself. Nothing bad would happen. I wouldn't do anything bad.

I looked up at Blake with a smile.

"Let's do this," I whispered.

Obviously, it wasn't that easy, but I knew I could do it. There was no doubt in my mind. I couldn't wait to get down and see the rest of the house. Kitchen, living room, the places my family spend their time together... I wanted to be there so bad it hurt.