Shooting for the Moon

Chapter 2

It was unusual their days off overlapped, but when one of them didn’t have to go in to work, they could at least snag a few hours together. Colton hadn’t known Ben had Friday off, pleased when he woke and found him reading a library book near the window.

“Hey,” he said, joining Ben on the couch and leaning in.

Ben accepted a quick kiss but didn’t close the book.

“Let me guess. You’re horny again.”

“Can you blame me?” Colton asked, pleased when he saw Ben smile. Maybe this time he’d get somewhere. With the long hours they both worked, being too tired for s*x wasn’t exactly uncommon.

Ben leaned up and kissed him.

“Yes,” he said, mischief in his eyes.

Colton was more relieved to see the playful reciprocation of his desires in Ben’s expression than he expected. He’d felt this creeping dread recently, something wrong between them he couldn’t really figure out. He wasn’t going to think about it. He took the book from Ben, closed it, let it fall to the floor. Leaned in for another kiss.

Ben leaned back as he accepted kiss after kiss, shifted so Colton could straddle him. With the curtains open, they were being bold; it wasn’t illegal for a couple of men to make out, but what few laws there were had been eroded so much that someone could report them for indecency or exposure simply for seeing them. Sometimes Colton grew nervous thinking about it, but sometimes it thrilled him. Today it was exciting. Not so for Ben, who pulled back after they’d both gotten so hard neither of them could ignore it any longer.

“Bedroom,” he said, pushing Colton away and rolling off the couch.

Colton wasn’t going to let him get away so easily. He grabbed Ben, pawed him, and kissed at his jaw all the way to bed, yanked up his shirt the moment they crossed the threshold. They stumbled to bed, shedding clothes, and fell into the unmade blankets Colton had just left ten minutes ago.

Skin pressed against skin, kissing wasn’t enough. Their c***s leaked eagerly against each other. Colton impatiently reached for the lube, slicked Ben up, and straddled him again. They’d long ago stopped springing for condoms with money being tight, but the lube was a must. Colton angled Ben’s c**k right and took him inside, both of them breathing out in satisfaction. Ben grabbed Colton’s ass, directing him as he thrust. Colton moved where Ben directed, first closing his eyes and enjoying the sensations, then observing Ben’s face for the moment he never liked to miss.

Ben’s expression changed as he came and Colton focused on it as he grabbed himself, clenched around Ben’s c**k, and released over Ben’s abdomen. It had been too long. Colton slid forward and lay against Ben, wanting to lean against Ben’s chest and listen to his heart rate slow, but Ben rolled away to clean up.

“Where do you need to be in a hurry?” Colton asked, wounded. Ben had the entire day off and he didn’t care to spend more than fifteen minutes with Colton f*****g.

“Library book’s due in a couple days and I don’t want a fine,” Ben said, sounding like he knew how weak a response it was. He clearly didn’t care.

Colton let him go. He dozed a bit, got up and washed, and found Ben in the kitchen making himself a sandwich. Ben hadn’t bothered to make him one too, so Colton followed behind him, pulling out everything Ben had just put away and assembling his own.

“Are we not going to talk about it, then?” Ben asked. He sat with his sandwich and took a bite.

Colton gritted his teeth. He knew he should try harder to be a better person for Ben, who did most of the cleaning and shopping, whose job pulled in more money, but he was so tired. Ben got to sit at a desk all day; Colton was on his feet for ten hours at a time in the back of a hot kitchen, frying up burgers and potatoes and cheese curds, burning and cutting himself.

“Is this about the cooking thing? I’m sorry, Ben, but I don’t really feel like it after work—”

“Not that,” Ben said. He frowned. “The letter from the landlord. The rent increase.”

Colton returned items to the fridge, not knowing what to say. The landlord was raising their rent. Again. The letter sat on the table, pushed to the side with stacks of miscellaneous papers. Colton forgot who had brought it in and opened it first, it had been sitting there so long, lingering.

“We could move,” he said and took his sandwich to the table.

Ben shook his head.

“I searched. Couldn’t find anything better.”

Of course he couldn’t. There wasn’t much better. Colton had looked himself a few times. He had a bite of the sandwich, the bread too dry, the lettuce too limp. He’d eaten worse.

“Then I guess we pay it,” he said. When Ben didn’t reply, he added, “I’ll see if I can pick up any more hours.”

“And then we’ll never see each other.” Ben glared at the crumbs on his plate.

Colton couldn’t really deny it. But then, neither of them could really say anything against it.

“Let’s just hope health insurance doesn’t go up again this year,” Colton said as lightly as he could manage.

Ben got up and took his plate to the sink.