tarotgal

Part 6

Lucas lay on his back as his heartrate and breathing both slowly dropped back to normal. His arm hooked around David, who was languidly kissing Lucas’ chest as he used it as a pillow. “So,” Lucas said, rubbing his hand up and down David’s chest. “You ready for another round?”

David snorted, the laughter making his whole body shake against Lucas’. “Nice one, baby. If I can manage to get up and clean off, it’ll be the most I can do right now.” Lucas didn’t blame him. They’d had sex three times already today, which was well above their average. If you added in all the dancing and workouts and all that excitement over Troy that morning, Lucas’ body was at the brink of physical exhaustion. Minus the workouts and climbing up twenty-two flights of stairs, David’s body had gone through all that as well.

“Poor thing. Do you want me to carry you to the shower?” Lucas teased.

There was a pause, and then “Would you please? That’d be a big help, actually.”

Lucas’ hand glided over one of David’s pecs, and he got an idea. He circled his index finger around the nipple then pinched the nub tightly between his fingers.

“Ah!” David jumped to his feet at once, hand to his chest, massaging the area. “You’re evil. And just for that, I’m showering first. You don’t get to join me. And don’t you dare pout!” Lucas’ lower lip was already out, his eyes sad and needy. “I need some time alone.”

Lucas stayed there on the bed, contemplating just drifting off to sleep, until he heard the shower running. With a tired groan, he hauled himself up and lurched to the bathroom. David had left the door open, and anyone else might have thought that was just because the man had been tired; Lucas knew better. Clearing his throat first to make sure not to startle his husband, Lucas then pushed the shower curtain back and climbed into the shower.

David stood motionless under the spray, water running down his body like little waterfalls and rivers. His eyes were closed, but he smiled. “Thought I told you I needed some time alone.”

“I gave you two whole minutes at least,” Lucas replied. “Wasn’t that long enough?”

David lifted his arms, reaching out, wanting his husband to come close. It had definitely been long enough.

Dry and warm beneath the covers after their shower, wrapped in each other’s arms, Lucas couldn’t imagine feeling any better than he did right now. Sure, this idea of an open relationship had seemed exciting, but if it didn’t happen, he still had this. And this was wonderful. This was really all he wanted.

Then his phone buzzed. Lucas reached out for it to see who it was texting him at nearly one in the morning. Still attached to its short charging cable, it didn’t reach to the middle of the bed, but he could still angle it to get a good look at the display.

Lucas sat up straight, pulling from his core. His heart was racing all over again just as it had been during his workouts earlier, just as it had been when he’d danced, and just as it had been when he’d made love to David. Lucas unplugged the phone and swiped. “Troy just messaged me.”

Lying sideways, David pushed himself up off the bed in a sort of side plank. He leaned forward. “What did he write?”

“I don’t—”

“Is he okay?”

“I don’t know. I’m trying to open it!”

“Open it faster!”

Finally, Lucas got his phone unlocked and opened the messaging app. He bit his lip, reading the text. Then he held it out to David to read for himself, because he didn’t trust his voice at the moment. There were just too many emotions rushing through him for him to be able to control the pitch.

The message read: Cant sleep. Dont think this medicine works on me. Any chance you guys are still awake?

Nervous and anxious, David hit Lucas’ arm repeatedly. “Ask him how he feels. Wait, no, does that sound creepy? Ask him if he needs us. Wait, that definitely sounds creepy.”

“Yeah it does. But he knows we know he’s sick.”

“Okay. Okay okay okay. Then ask him how he feels. But be cool about it.”

“Cool?”

“You know… casual.”

“How do I—” Lucas began, but he broke off as his phone buzzed again.

Another message: I feel so rotten. Ive never sneezed so much in my life.

Lucas could practically hear David’s heart pounding. David gripped his arm tight, leaning in to read the text. “Ask him—”

“Already on it.” Lucas finished his message back: We’re up. We can help. What room are you in?

No reply followed.

They waited.

And waited some more.

“My hand’s going tingly.”

David released his vice-like grip on Lucas’ arm. “So sorry, baby.” He stared unblinkingly at the screen, hands gripping the bedsheet tight instead. “Why isn’t he replying?”

“Think he’s fallen asleep?”

“After he just said he couldn’t sleep? I don’t think so. Maybe you were too pushy with asking for his room number. Maybe he thinks we’re crazy stalkers who want to get in his pants.”

“Uh, but don’t we?”

David nodded. “Well, yeah, but now maybe he knows that and wants nothing to do with us.”

That could be it, but there were a hundred other reasons he might not be replying, simpler reasons. “What if he can’t reply?”

David’s eyes widened. “Shit! Now I’m worried he needs help. Should we call 911?”

“Because a guy’s got a bad cold? David, I love you, but you’re—”

The phone buzzed, and both men jumped. It read: Sorry. Had to sneeze. Room 2144

“Two floors down,” Lucas said, even though David had already climbed out of bed to put on clothes. Lucas’ instincts told him to do likewise, but he wasn’t going to leave Troy waiting. He typed back: Hang on. We’re on our way.

Dropping the phone onto the bed, Lucas dashed over to his suitcase for clothes. He found a clean t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Half his suitcase was filled with socks, and he was pulling one on when his phone buzzed again. David stood right by the bed, so he dove for it. He read the message and froze, the look of panic on his face softening.

“What?”

David whimpered.

“What?!” Pulling on his other sock at the same time, Lucas hopped over. He read the text over his husband’s shoulder: Thanks. You guys are lifesavers. Lucas put his hands on David’s shoulders and squeezed. “You got this.”

“We got this,” David corrected, his voice weak, shaky, uncertain.

“C’mon,” Lucas said, lacing up his sneakers and grabbing the hotel room key off the counter by the door. David was right behind him.

The hotel was silent in the middle of the night, apart from the thumps of their shoes on the plush carpet as they actually ran down the hallway. Though the elevators surely wouldn’t be busy, Lucas didn’t want to wait for them to come all the way up to the twenty-third floor from the lobby. So he went straight for the door to the stairs, and David didn’t even complain. They raced down the two flights; Lucas even launched himself over the last two stairs.

Room 2144 wasn’t that far down the hall, but they came to a stop in front of the door, not sure what to do. “Should I knock?” Lucas asked. “He knows we’re coming.”

“What… if he… fell asleep?” David asked, a bit breathless from the running. “Knocking would… scare him.”

“I’ll text him.” Lucas reached for his phone only to realize he didn’t have it. “Shit!”

“No! Wait... I’ve got it.” David pulled Lucas’ phone out of his back pocket. He unlocked it, opened the text messages, and froze.

“Is he okay?” Lucas asked, alarmed, worried about a text that might have come through while they’d been running.

“What? Oh, yeah. I don’t know... what to write… that doesn’t sound like… we’re in a horror movie.”

Lucas groaned. “Just write anything. The word ‘here’ maybe.”

“But if he fell asleep... and gets the text in the morning… it won’t make… sense.”

“He knows we’re coming.” Lucas held out his hand. “Just give me the phone. I’ll do it!”

“No, like you said… I’ve got this! I just—”

The door opened. Troy stood there, eyes narrowed and blinking from the bright light in the hallway. Though he still wore the same hoodie—probably the only one he’d packed for the trip—he looked worse than the last time they’d seen him. His nose and the area beneath it was red, his eyes bloodshot, too. He looked absolutely exhausted and ready to be just plain done with this head cold. “I heard you talkig through the door. Why did’t you dock?” He held a hand up, miming knocking, in case they didn’t understand. He had a balled-up tissue clutched in his hand, and when he brought his hand down, he rubbed it at his nose, sniffling—or trying to. It sounded so stuffed-up that the air wasn’t getting in. It was still running, however, and was still trying to stop it from doing so. He was a complete mess, and Lucas knew at once they were in for a long night. But he also knew Troy had called the right people.

“We had hoped you might have fallen asleep.”

“I wish!” Troy laughed derisively, coughed into his sleeve, and stepped back to let them inside. “I’ve tried everythig. I dod’t thidg I’ll ever sleeb agaid.”

The room was a disaster area. A suitcase sat empty in one corner, because all the clothing in it littered the floor. The shopping bags and their contents spilled across the table along with two room service trays. The bed was stripped of pillows and blankets, some of which were on the floor, others of which were crammed into an armchair, and another of which seemed to be escaping into the bathroom through the open doorway. Absolutely everywhere, on every visible surface, were used, balled-up tissues.

Immediately, Lucas decided two things. First, it was going to be his job to get this place in order tonight. And, second, the fact that Troy seemed more frustrated about his cold than embarrassed about his room’s appearance meant he must really feel miserable. It made Lucas glad Troy had contacted them. They had their work cut out for them tonight, but if anyone could help, Lucas knew his husband could.

David was already asking questions. “I’m guessing you can breathe better when you’re upright?” That would certainly explain the armchair.

Troy nodded, readjusting the tissue at his running nose. He slumped into the armchair. A pillow fell to the floor, but David picked it up and eased it back in, giving Troy a cushion between the side of the chair and his head.

Lucas thought that he didn’t look very comfortable, though, and David apparently picked up on that as well. “May I sit down on your bed?” David asked, careful to ask permission.

“Yeah. S-sure. Oh doe. Here they cobe agaid…” His whole body tensed up, and he buried his nose into the pillow. “ehhHIHshhhh! HEHTchhhh! hehh… ehhh-HAHTchhhh! HEPTshuhhh! HEHshhoo! EHshoo! ehhhKEHshoooo!”

“God bless you, baby.” David looked around for the tissue box and didn’t see it. Lucas looked as well and noticed the hotel’s tissue box holder on its side on the vanity, having been emptied.

Troy pulled a tissue out of the front pocket of his hoodie and tried desperately to blow his nose into it, but his nose was far too stuffed-up for that.

David sat down on the edge of the bed, within reach, but with a bit of distance between them. “You can’t get comfortable enough sitting up to fall asleep, right?”

Troy nodded again.

“And the TheraFlu medicine isn’t doing its job of clearing out that congestion?”

Troy shrugged.

“Did you remember to take it every four hours?”

Troy looked a little sheepish again. “Sort of…”

To his credit, David gave no reaction at all. His kind smile did not falter one bit. “When was the last time you took some?”

Predictably, Troy shrugged again. “This afterdood subtibe? I thidg?”

David nodded. “Well, no wonder, baby. This cold is the worst, and you need to keep attacking it. It’s… ah…” He lifted a hand, waving it in a rolling sort of motion, gesturing at Lucas. “Insert sports metaphor here.”

Lucas thought for a moment. “Okay, so if you’re going up against the heavyweight boxing champion, chances are you won’t be throwing a knockout punch first round, right? It takes round after round of hits, so you gotta stay tough and keep fighting or it’s you that’s gonna get KOed. Like that?”

“Yep! Just like that. Thank you, baby.”

“Any time.” Lucas went back to visually scanning the room for any bulges under blankets that might be tissue boxed shaped.

Smiling, David cocked his head at Troy. “Make sense?”

Troy nodded and coughed. Lucas couldn’t help but wince. That cough sounded pretty bad, like the congestion was trying to make its way down to his chest instead of staying put in his head. David glanced over at Lucas, a brief expression of concern on his face. Troy, hunched over a little and still coughing, hadn’t seen it. And when he lifted his head, breathing carefully through his mouth, David was the very picture of calm and smiley once more. Troy, on the other hand, had tears in his eyes, probably brought on from the intense coughing.

“Troy,” David said, his voice so gentle you’d never know it was 1am and he just ran down two flights of stairs. “May I put my hand on your shoulder?”

Troy’s eyebrows knit together, but he nodded. David leaned forward and did exactly what he said he was going to. He squeezed reassuringly. “Here’s what’s going to happen now. I’m going to help you find a comfortable position where you’ll be able to breathe, relax, and, I hope, fall asleep. And my husband’s going to go down to the convenience store and get a different brand of medicine that’s probably a better fit for your symptoms right now, one that should be easier for you to remember to take.”

Lucas really should have seen that coming. He walked over and leaned against David’s side. “Extra strength 12-hour Mucinex?”

“You read my mind. Again.” Really, though, Lucas just knew what David gave him when he had wet coughs like the one Troy had now.

Despite the fact that Troy really needed medicine, Lucas didn’t leave immediately. There was one final thing to sort out. “Just checking about that promise you made me give this morning?”

David pulled back from Troy and reached up, taking Lucas’ hand. “My turn to promise: I’ll be okay. Considering the conversations we had earlier, I think you can go. As long as you’re comfortable with the arrangement.”

Nodding, Lucas leaned over and kissed him. “Of course I am. I’ll be right back. I love you.”

David’s smile brightened, not just from calm and reassuring but genuinely pleased and loving. “I love you too, baby. Don’t forget to grab a room card so you can get back in. I gave you back your phone, right?”

“Yep. Got it.” Lucas tapped his hand against his back pocket, just to make sure. He went to head out, taking one of the two room key cards he’d noticed on the table and slipping it into his other back pocket. He picked up one of the room service trays to leave it outside the door on his way as well.

“And take the elevator!” David called after him. There was a surge of something like relief and comfort in hearing those words. David wanted him to return quickly. He wasn’t worried. He wasn’t even jealous. But it was still nice to hear he was needed and wanted. Maybe David really had something going here with this care-giving kink of his. Lucas headed to the elevators.

It wasn’t until he was alone in the elevator, surrounded by the gold and mirrors and bright lights that were becoming familiar to him that the fatigue started to come back to him. He leaned against a wall and closed his eyes. Getting Troy to sleep suddenly seemed like a critical goal. Lucas knew that neither he nor David would be sleeping until Troy did, and even then they might do so in shifts. But Lucas felt dead tired. And as every second passed, he grew more and more so.

When the elevator reached the ground floor and the doors slid open to the lobby, he realized he had nearly nodded off during the ride. His head spun slightly as he fought to wake himself up, push off the elevator wall, and use the momentum to carry him forward through the lobby to the little convenient store, glad to find it was open. He’d vowed to himself to only ever stay at hotels from now on that had 24-hour stores. You never knew when you’d have to make an emergency medicine run to one for a guy you and your husband were hoping might join you in bed, assuming your husband managed to get him breathing like a normal person first.

How was this his life now?

Lucas grabbed the box of medicine off the hook on the wall and headed to the counter to check out, only to realize he didn’t have his wallet.

“It’s no problem,” said the young man at the counter. “Just put down your room number and sign for it. It will show up on your bill when you check out of the hotel.”

“Fantastic. I was not looking forward to going all the way back up to my room for it.”

“You wouldn’t imagine how often this happens. Though, honestly, why you’d come to buy something and not have anything to buy it with is beyond me…”

Lucas decided this is where the conversation needed to end. He slid the receipt and pen back over the counter and took his purchase. An elevator opened right up for him in the lobby, and he got on, but so did three women apparently coming back from some bar. They were tipsy as anything and hanging off each other. The doors to the elevator closed, and the women giggled at their reflections in the mirrored walls.

“Are you all going to floor twenty-one also?” Lucas asked, because none of them had pressed a button for a different floor.

One of them hiccupped. Another giggled some more. And a third bothered to answer. “No, floor twelve.” The two of them looked up at the floor progress above the door. They’d just passed floor sixteen. “Awwww!” The woman playfully slapped another on the arm. “Hey, we missed the floor!”

“We should be going back down!” one shrieked.

The other stabbed at the button for the twelfth floor repeatedly, but the light wouldn’t turn on because the elevator was going in the wrong direction.

Lucas sighed. “It’ll go back down as soon as we get to floor twenty-one.”

“Kay…” one replied, still pushing the button with confusion. “I think it’s broken.”

Under normal circumstances, Lucas might have stayed in the elevator and made sure they got back down to floor twelve. But it was after two by now, his body was crying out for a little rest, his eyelids were heavy, and there were two men counting on him. So when the elevator doors opened, Lucas bolted out to be sure he didn’t wind up riding the elevator up and down all night with them. He figured that they’d make it where they needed to go eventually, even if a hotel employee had to intervene. As the doors shut, he heard more laughter. One of them said, “What floor are we going to again?”

Lucas rolled his eyes and headed in the direction of room 2144 again. He stopped short near the ice machine, however. There was a door ajar just beyond the ice machine alcove, and inside was the unmistakable sight of a housekeeping cart. Behind that were shelves lined with supplies. There probably thousands of tiny bars of soap and miniature bottles of shampoo. But Lucas was set on just one thing. Looking around to make sure no one saw, he leaned in and helped himself to a big box of tissues. He was a few doors down when he paused again, thinking. He doubled back and ducked into the storage closet once more.

When he emerged again, he still had the box of tissues, but he also had a roll of paper towels, a spray bottle, and an extra pillow with a crisp, freshly laundered pillowcase. If he was going to spend the night cleaning, he wanted to be prepared. And if he was going to spend the night sleeping in shifts, he wanted to be prepared for that as well.

As he headed once more to Troy’s room, he imagined what the two of them might have been up to in his absence. Had David told him about his fetish? About their shared attraction to him? For all Lucas knew, they could be having sex right now without him. It didn’t seem like Troy was in any shape for it, but the idea of walking in on the two of them didn’t make him feel the way he thought it would. Before now, he would have there would be a good deal of jealousy. Instead, the mental image of those two in bed together just made him incredibly horny.

He thought about joining in. And he thought about just napping at the foot of the bed. Lucas wasn’t sure which he wanted more, honestly.

Carrying all the things and pulling the key card out of his front pocket to touch it to the card reader by the door was difficult. However, it wasn’t until a red light indicator turned on that he realized that was the card to his and David’s room; the other card was in his back pocket. With a sigh, Lucas put everything down except for the pillow. When he tapped the correct card to the door reader, the light went amber. He pushed the door open a few inches and wedged his foot inside to keep it from closing as he rounded up his things again.

David and Troy were both on the bed together, but they weren’t in the middle of mind blowing sex, or sex of any kind, by the traditional definition of the word.

Troy lay stretched out across the bed lengthwise, lying back on two stacked pillows. Those pillows were resting in David’s lap. David had his hand on Troy’s shoulder again as he regaled the man with a story Lucas knew all too well. And, judging from the place he was at in the story, they must have spent most of the time not having sex without Lucas but actually talking about Lucas. God, how he loved that man.

“Now, what I should have done at that point was to retreat to the locker room before I could embarrass myself any further,” David recounted. “Instead, I went over to the most complicated weight lifting machine and pretended I knew how to use it.”

“Oh doel” Clearly, Troy could see where that was going. “You did’t.”

“Oh, yes he did.” Lucas said, breaking in, making his return known.

David smiled brightly back at him, continuing, “I probably would have died if Lucas hadn’t rescued me from its clutches! He was my knight in shining gym clothes.”

Both David and Lucas laughed, but Troy looked a little nervous about being found like this. Even though there were several pillows in play, his head was technically in Lucas’ husband’s lap. He made to move, to readjust, but Lucas held his hand out, gesturing for him to stay put. “You look comfortable, finally. Do you feel more comfortable?”

Troy sniffed but nodded.

“Then please don’t get up on my account. I’m just going to get you a glass of water so you can swallow these pills easier.”

“Hey,” David said softly, his hand moving, grip apparently tightening on Troy’s shoulder. “Let’s get you sitting up a little more to make that easier. You can lie back down the second you’re done.” There was a fair bit of shifting and more than a fair bit of coughing. But when Lucas returned from the bathroom, glass of water in hand, Troy was indeed sitting up. He took a few sips of water to calm his throat while Lucas popped two giant pills from the blister pack.

“These are 12-hour pills,” David explained. “Should be easier to remember. Just take one at…” He checked his watch. “Take one every time the clock gets to 2. I’ll remind you, too, so you can’t forget. Gotta… ah… go a lot of rounds if you want to make a touchdown.”

“No,” Lucas said, sliding onto the bed beside his husband. He put his arm around David. “Nice try at a metaphor, but that’s not how football works.”

Troy gave a little laugh and handed the water glass back to Lucas. He scrubbed his hand at his nose, sniffling as his nose twitched. From the tightness of his mouth and furrow of his brow, it looked like he might be trying to hold some sneezes back.

The tissue box Lucas had procured was still tucked under his arm, so he pulled it out and ripped the cardboard tab off the top, leaving only a thin layer of plastic between anybody and the tissues beneath. He thought of first of reaching forward and offering it to Troy, whose nose was obviously tickling badly again. However, he tilted the box in David’s direction instead.

Acting on instinct, David immediately reached in and pulled out a few tissues. Then he paused. His eyes met Lucas’, and they silently asked if this was all right, asking for permission.

Lucas smiled and nodded. His arm around David’s shoulders tightened its hold, bringing the man closer and letting Lucas kiss David’s temple. “Love you. Love everything about you,” he whispered as softly as he could, not sure if Troy could hear or if the man was too busy concentrating on not sneezing. Then he dropped the tissue box onto his lap and ran his hand down David’s arm from shoulder to forearm, guiding it forward to Troy.

David held the tissues out in front of Troy’s face. “It’s okay to sneeze, baby,” he said, giving Troy’s shoulder another squeeze.

“heh heh ehhh hehh?” Troy squinted uncertainly at the tissues as his breath hitched desperately. For a moment, none of them were certain if he was going to sneeze or not. Then he moved his hand away from his nose and pitched forward into the tissues before he could reach for them himself. “ehhh-HIHtchhhhh! EHschooo! Hehh hehh HXXschuhhh!”

David caught them all deftly and then, carefully, gripped Troy’s nose through the tissues before wiping, ensuring he’d catch any residual runniness. Lucas knew that feeling intimately, the way David applied just the right amount of pressure and did his best to be gentle when Lucas’ nose felt sore. He knew how good it felt to be on the receiving end of Lucas’ care. He also knew Troy needed to blow his nose right about now.

“Thadgs.” Troy coughed and sniffed and coughed again.

David had already pulled several fresh tissues out of the box by the time Lucas said, “Hey man, blow your nose.” Troy looked over his shoulder at them, a little confused, a little shy. Lucas patted his arm. “Trust me. It’ll help.”

Troy coughed again and looked back at David, who held up the new batch of tissues. Then he pressed them to Troy’s nose for him. “There you go.” David’s voice was reassuring, encouraging.

Without further hesitation, Troy blew his nose into the tissues repeatedly, and there was a great a look of relief on his face afterward. “Cad I… go for roud two?”

“As many rounds as it takes. Lucas brought a brand new box of tissues.” David maneuvered another couple tissues into place. Troy took a deep breath and blew his nose again.

“That’s good.” Troy gave another sniffle, though this one was small this time. “I used ub dearly that whole other box. Dot eved sure where I left it.” He scanned the room for a few seconds before giving up with a shrug. “I was just so… so sdee… sdee-heee… sdeezy-heh-HEH!” David pressed tissues to his nose. “heh-EHGGTshooo!”

“God bless you, baby.” He wiped Troy’s nose dry.

“I dod’t thig that bedicide is helbig at all. Snrff! I still feel so idcredibly sdeezy.”

David nudged Lucas. “Trade places with me for a couple minutes?”

Lucas got up and moved aside, allowing David to slide out from under the pillows and get up. He stretched his arms over his head, fingers clasped, in imitation of one of the many stretches Lucas did every morning. Then, as Lucas sat back down on the bed, taking his place by the pillows cradling Troy’s head and shoulders, David pulled at the blankets and plumped the pillows to make sure both men were comfortable. After that, he walked around the bed so he could be seen easier.

“Your nose is going to keep bothering you for a while. This is a pretty bad cold. It’ll take a little time for the medicine to start working, but I promise it will start to help soon.” He held his hand out and Lucas passed him the box of tissues without needing to be asked to do so. “Sit tight. I’m going to make us some tea. I’ve got a good herbal one that should help soothe your throat and warm you up. It might even make you a little sleepy.”

Troy looked like that might be too much to hope for just now, but he nodded and helped himself to a tissue, rubbing at his nose almost immediately.

They watched David bustling about, attempting to make decent cups of tea using teabags and the hotel’s coffee maker. Lucas loved watching his husband fuss like this. Before, he’d always been on the receiving end, so getting to watch it when he didn’t feel completely miserable was something of a treat. Granted, Lucas did feel tired, but he didn’t feel ill, and that was a significant difference. He thought he’d feel more jealous to have David do for someone else things he normally reserved just for Lucas, but he enjoyed watching David fuss over Troy far too much to be jealous. He just liked watching David be in his element, doing the things that made him the happiest.

“You’re so lucky to have hib,” Troy whispered, looking back at Lucas.

Lucas nodded. “I’m well aware.” He directed a yawn into his shoulder. If David made him drink that herbal tea, he wasn’t sure he was going to be able to stay up much longer. What he needed was caffeine and plenty of it.

“hehhhh!” Lucas knew the unsteady intake of breath was something he should react to. If he were David, he’d have tissues to the man’s nose by now. But he was too tired to be quick. And, besides, quick reflexes weren’t really his wheelhouse either; it was another reason those fast, high intensity workouts just weren’t his thing. “hehhhh-IHHPtchshhhhhhhh!”

“Tissues, baby!” David called from the far side of the room, and Lucas wondered which of them he meant—Troy, who had sneezed freely or Lucas who hadn’t grabbed tissues for Troy fast enough.

“S-sor…” Troy tried to apologize, but his breath caught again. This time, he pulled a tissue hastily from the box on his lap. “hehHIHtshuphhhh!”

Troy had pitched forward, exposing a broad back perfect for rubbing. Lucas wasn’t nearly as good as David at care-giving, but he knew his back rubs were pretty good. So he placed a hand there and rubbed, his torso rocking as he used his core muscles to push through his arms and knead the butt of his hand into Troy’s back with just the right amount of pressure. “Bless you,” Lucas said softly.

Remaining hunched forward to give Lucas access to his back, Troy made a grunty sound of pleasure. When he sniffed, his body tightened, and Lucas pressed harder until the man relaxed again. Troy hung his head, trying to go loose, tension draining from his body, especially his shoulders.

Lucas broke his rhythm as a fierce yawn seized him. He directed it into his shoulder, but it was so big that Troy had heard it and glanced back. “I feel lucky, too, you know. Dot a lot of beoble would go to all this trouble for subode they just bet. But I feel a lot better, thadgs.”

Taking this as his cue to end the rubbing, Lucas pulled his hand back.

“How are you holdid’ ub? It’s late, and you look exhausted.”

Lucas felt it. He nodded automatically, though sitting still here and acknowledging it only made it harder to fight the fatigue. He felt his eyes close and, try as he might, he couldn’t force them back open again.