Page 124 of Second Chance

“Yeah,” Tony gasps, “please.”

Daniel’s lube-slick hand snakes down to grasp Tony’s aching cock and strokes it in time to the movements of his hips. Tony groans, head thrown back on Daniel’s shoulder. He’s wrappedup tight in Daniel’s arms, their bodies pressed so close there’s no space between them. Daniel’s cock lies thick between his thighs, Daniel’s hand firm around his cock.

Pleasure slides through Tony like a knife, cutting him apart before he knows it will happen. He gasps when it starts and moans low in his throat as it ends, thick ropes of come shooting across Daniel’s hand and his own stomach. His thighs clench around Daniel’s cock involuntarily.

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, Tony—” The words end on a strangled gasp as more wet heat spreads between Tony’s legs, Daniel’s come filling the scant space between them.

After, the crash Tony half expected as soon as they returned home hits him full force. Daniel wipes him off with the towel before pulling the comforter over both of them.

Tony rolls toward him so he can wrap Daniel in his arms, utterly convinced he won’t sleep unless he knows Daniel is safe in his grasp. Daniel lets himself be hugged close and tight, arranging them until it’s comfortable enough to sleep.

“I’ll see you in the morning, honey,” Daniel says with a quick kiss.

“Mm,” Tony mumbles. “’Cause I live here now.”

He drifts off to the sound of Daniel’s soft, pleased laugh.

Epilogue

It takes another two weeks for Tony to officially move in.

He doesn’t spend a single night in Kingston in the interim, but he won’t feel properly moved in until he fixes the bookshelf in Daniel’s—their—living room and cleans out his room at his parents’ house.

There’s too much to do before a proper move. First, they have to deal with the fallout of Sean’s attack on the Indian restaurant in Red Hook. In light of Lily’s changed statement, every other witness statement needs rehashing as well. Tony loses a full day at the police station, lucky as always that his employer is so lenient.

The college runs Daniel ragged between managing interviews with the local news, damage control with concerned students and their parents, and getting the place back into something approaching a functional environment for education. Tony works long hours at the shop, making up for the days he missed and babysitting Lia in equal measure, while Gianna visits Lily at Kingston Hospital.

Tony debates going to see her, but he’s learning to be okay with not being okay with everything. Instead, he listens to Gianna and Daniel’s updates on how Lily’s doing and whatcharges she’ll end up facing. He offers a little advice about how to deal with Sean’s car insurance, but he lets someone else convey it to her.

The Sunday after, they all attend Amelia Lawrence’s funeral. Even Charlie and Blake G, who have only met Emilio once, tag along to pay their respects. Wearing a properly fitting suit and a clean shirt, Emilio makes it through the entire service admirably. He carries Francie on his hip for most of it, letting her hide her face in his neck when she needs to. Though he doesn’t look any less haunted, he seems to have started getting some sleep.

Emilio still makes time to thank them all personally for coming.

Tony caught Ma cooking extra, which convinced him she’s been taking casseroles to Germantown all week.

Maybe that’s why Emilio shows up to help the day Tony officially moves in. Tony’s not sure who told him, but his money’s on Lisa, who can’t resist a stray. It could also have been Colette, who seems to have reached some sort of detente with Emilio on the whole “suspicion of murder” incident.

“Don’t look so shocked,” Daniel mutters to Tony as he watches the two of them chat next to the coffee maker he insisted on buying as part of the moving in process. “Suspecting you of murder is practically how we met.”

“Ouch.” In revenge for that particular comment, Tony makes Daniel come to the hardware store with him.

Tony still isn’t sure why everyone felt the need to be here. All he did was text the group chat that he wasn’t free today because he was moving in properly. Mostly, it’s clothes, a few books of his own, and some photo albums Ma sneaked on top of the pile. He spent the last week dismantling his bedroom since he’s notabout to let them be the kind of parents who keep a shrine to him when they could use the space for something worthwhile. He could have used some help taking all the furniture apart, but he knew better than to ask his friends for that. Giving Blake a screwdriver counts as a danger to the public.

Instead, he asked someone actually helpful. Kyle raised his eyebrows practically to the top of his forehead when Tony asked to borrow his pickup to take his old bed and dresser to the used furniture store.

It was practically an out-of-body experience for Tony to tell him, “I’m moving in with my boyfriend.”

Kyle waited a minute to respond while the pieces fell into place. “Ah. The sandwich-maker from Rhinebeck.”

“Again,” Tony told him. “I am fully capable of making my own sandwiches. But, yes.”

Kyle shrugged, said, “Mazel tov,” and handed over the keys to his truck.

Tony assured the Toyota multiple times that it was for reasons of space and transport, not because he was looking to trade up. If he keeps a lookout for reasonable used cars he could buy, well, he keeps quiet about it around his current car in case it refuses to start out of jealousy.

So Tony isn’t taking Daniel to the hardware store for much. Some background lighting for that bookshelf, and some wood stain to match a two-by-four or two to the proper color so he can finally make sure the shelf doesn’t collapse on them. If he can swing it, they’ll stop by Target for a bigger frying pan as well. He still wants a table in the living room for when it’s more than the two of them and Colette at dinner, but Daniel’s been resistant about Tony building one himself, and Tony’s holding out for him to agree to that.

What his friends intend on moving into the apartment while they’re at the store is a mystery to Tony.

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