"I missed this so much," Avi said.
The two men were lying on the sofa, their arms and legs tangled up.
The bearded man had his head on his boyfriend's chest and had his eyes closed.
"So did I" Scott replied and combed his hand through Avi's tousled hair.
"Hmmm..." Avi hummed. "How long are you staying?"
Scott sighed. "I don't know. I mean I have Mitch's car and I don't know when he needs it back."
Avi nodded. "Did you bring clothes?"
Scott chuckled. "Of course I did. My bag is still in the car, though, I didn't want to bring it in..."
"I get that" Avi said. "But maybe..."
"Tell you what. I'll call Mitchy and ask him and then I get the bags, okay?" Avi asked.
"Mmhm... we could bring the car home and come back?" Avi offered. "I'm not ready to let you go, yet."
"I'll ask him." When Avi didn't move, Scott softly nudged him. "I left my phone in my jacket."
"Fine" Avi grumbled. "I might start on food, don't think I didn't hear your tummy rumble." He got up and stretched his arms. "Oh wow, five minutes more and I would've been asleep."
"I noticed" Scott returned as he got up as well. "Thank you for cooking, I'm actually rather hungry."
Avi got on his toes to peck Scott's lips. "Wonderful, tell Mitch I said 'hi'."
"I will." Scott went to get his phone while Avi was off to the kitchen to start cooking.
Scott got back into the living room and sat down on the sofa to call his best friend. He didn't need to wait long for him to accept the call.
"Hello, Scotty."
"Hi, Mitchy. How are you?"
"I'm fine. How are you? How is Avi?"
Scott smiled slightly. "Me and my boyfriend are doing just fine."
Mitch chuckled softly. "I didn't want to say it this morning, but I knew it. How are you feeling about it?"
"Very good. I'm sure that this was the right decision. We talked about everything and then snuggled up on the sofa. Right now he's making some food for us" Scott explained. "It just feels so good, Mitch. I feel at home with him."
"That's good, Scott. I'm happy for you. Both of you. What's the plan now?"
"Well, that's actually why I am calling you, Mitchy. I was planning to stay here, at least for a few days..." Scott began.
"Oh I don't mind," Mitch said. "I don't need my car until Friday."
"That's fine. Avi needs to be back in LA on Thursday, I'll just drive home then, too."
"Wonderful. How's the cabin? Is it really just a hut kind of thing?"
Scott chuckled. "Not at all. It's not that big, that's true. But enough space. I haven't seen the first floor, yet, but I'm sitting in the living room right now and it's just wonderful" he explained. "Oh, and we don't have internet connection here. And no TV."
"That sounds like a nightmare to me, but it fits Avi. I just hope you brought condoms" Mitch joked.
"Oh, the phone reception isn't the best either..." Scott shot back.
"Girl you understood me," Mitch said. "Anyway. I gotta run, I have a meeting coming up and the boss can't be late."
"Of course. I'll see you on Thursday. Bye, Mitchy."
"Bye Scotty."
Once Scott had ended the call, he put his phone down on the table and went over to the kitchen.
"And?" Avi asked.
Scott put an arm around his waist and pressed a soft kiss onto his neck. "If you want to, I'll stay until you need to go back to LA."
"Of course I want you to stay" Avi replied. He leaned against Scott a little bit while he continued to clean the mushrooms.
Scott looked over his boyfriend's shoulder. "You said you picked the mushrooms yourself?"
Avi nodded. "I did. This morning. You're getting the freshest mushrooms ever."
"I just hope they're not toxic" Scott replied.
Avi chuckled. "Don't worry. I only pick them when I'm 100% sure" he said. "I really like my boyfriend alive." He turned his head and kissed his boyfriend softly. "I need to cook, Dear. Unless you don't want to eat?"
Scott pouted, but he let go of his boyfriend.
~
In the evening, Avi and Scott were sitting outside on the veranda. Avi was doing a crossword and Scott was reading a book.
Or rather trying to do so. He couldn't stay focused, because he looked up with every sound that was coming from the forest.
"Scott?"
"Hmm?"
"That's just the forest. Just nature."
"I'm not used to nature," Scott returned. He put his book down and moved his chair over to Avi's. He looked at the crossword. "How do you solve this? I'm too stupid for crosswords."
"You're not stupid. You just need to find a strategy. You've got to find a few things you know and go from there" Avi explained as he filled in another word.
"Mmhm" Scott hummed. "Here: The character of Romeo and Juliet might be Tybalt?"
"Oh yes! Thank you" Avi said and wrote it down. "See? You're not too stupid. You know your stuff."
"Not too stupid. That's the nicest compliment I ever got" Scott said sarcastically.
Avi rolled his eyes. "You know exactly what I meant, Scott" he returned.
Scott just chuckled. "I do."
"Mmhm, want to try one on your own?" Avi asked.
But Scott shook his head. "Nah, I'd rather watch you be all intelligent," he said and laid his head on his boyfriend's shoulder. He flinched suddenly when he heard some rustling hear him and then saw a dark shadow right on the veranda. "What the hell."
Avi didn't even look up, "Must be the rabbits. They're nocturnal and are just waking up."
"How do you know it's a rabbit?" Scott argued.
Avi put his pen down and stood up. "Come on," he said to Scott and ushered him to the edge of the veranda. "Stay silent and just watch over there. The first tree on the right."
Scott furrowed his brows but he did as Avi said and gasped when he saw two rabbits, then three and then some smaller ones. "Babies..."
Avi nodded. "Yes," he said softly. "They have their burrow under the trees. I often watch them at dusk. They're fascinating. That's the first time I see the babies, though."
Scott smiled. "They are fascinating. And cute, too."
Avi nodded. "Very cute" he agreed.
They both fell silent for a while until Avi looked up at Scott. "We can go inside, we don't have to watch the rabbits..."
But Scott shook his head. "I want to watch them for a bit if you don't mind? I just find it very calming..."
Avi smiled. "I don't mind at all." He smiled when he felt Scott stepping behind him.
The blonde put his arms around his boyfriend's waist and pulled him close. He placed a soft kiss onto his temple and then proceeded to look at the rabbits doing their thing.
"It's funny" he whispered after a while. "Before I met you, I would've run at the thought of spending a few days in nature without the internet and TV, but now I want to take long walks through the forest and learn more about nature..."
"And before I met you I thought I'd never find someone who loves me the way I am and tries to see the world through my eyes" Avi replied.
"Am I the first man you're dating, except the one night stands?" Scott wanted to know. "You don't have to reply..."
"Technically yes. I mean I met a guy when I was just coming to terms, but he said he wasn't willing to wait for me to be ready. He wanted me to immediately click and be fine with who I am, but I couldn't do it. He reached out to me once more when I got famous and we met up a few times, but it didn't click for me. And then I realised that there's a lot of... casual dating and while I enjoyed the one night stands I had, I always wanted to fall in love with someone and just meet up for sex. I stopped looking for something serious, it was too much hassle, too frustrating." He looked up at his boyfriend. "But that's in the past. And I'm happy that I don't have to search anymore."
~~~~