Page 28 of Full Service

“Oh, fuck off.” Hywel turned and walked back toward me. He deliberately shunted me as he did, but he was grinning. He had such a nice smile. I followed after him but swiftly took the lead. Hywel was looking around in wonder. “I’ve been to so many nice places. Brian and I went to the Maldives last year…”

“Show off,” I said.

“Hush. What I was about to say is that as many places as I’ve been, it’s easy to forget just how beautiful home is. I smoked my first cigarette on that bench over there, had my first kiss in an alleyway behind one of the bars when I was seventeen and had snuck in with fake ID…”

“Oh my God, who was it?” I asked. I couldn’t help my curiosity.

Hywel groaned. “It was Tudor, OK?”

“I’m pretty sure he was every boy and girl’s first kiss in Hiraeth. Fucking hell, he got around.”

“Look at him now, shacking up with a movie star. Reckon Daniel Ellison knows how boyfriend used to be a right slag?” Hywel laughed.

“I would not want to be the one who told him if not.” I looked around us at Aberystwyth. The Christmas lights had been switched on, illuminating so many old Victorian buildings on the seafront. The pier was lit with families playing, and there were people walking their dogs down on the beach bundled up in duffel coats. It was a beautiful place to be on this night. And somehow, despite myself, I found myself smiling along with Hywel.

I pointed over at the old church that had been converted into a nightclub. “That’s where we’re going,Yr Hen Eglwys.” The Old Church. God wouldn’t be very happy if he knew what went on in there nowadays.

As we approached, thethump thump thumpof the club got louder. It was an early club night, but there wasn’t any other provision for LGBT people in the nearby towns or villages despite Hiraeth’s improbably high population of flaming homos.

“Are you ready for this?” I asked Hywel as we reached the door.

“As long as the drinks are cheap and the men are hot,” he said.

“Well the drinks are cheap and the men are…they exist.”

Hywel tilted his head dramatically. “It’ll do.”

He pushed open the door and waited there for me to pass him. Two bouncers stood just inside, keeping warm rather than stand out in the cold. “ID?” One of them asked Hywel.

He looked at me incredulously and handed over his ID to the bouncers. They waved him through, and when I went to pull my ID from my wallet one of them shook their head. When I passed the bouncers and met with Hywel, he was laughing behind his hand.

“Which one of us is six years older?” he asked.

“Shut up. It’s the tattoos and beard.”

“Sure, definitely not the wrinkles. Want a drink?” Hywel headed over to the bar and I followed him.

I pointed at my favourite lager, and Hywel had a gin and tonic. The club, though loud was not yet busy and there was no one on the dance floor yet. We both walked over to a nearby booth and sat next to each other rather than opposite so we could hear one another.

“Thanks for this,” I held up the beer.

“Anytime. Typical country boy, drinking lager.”

“Nah, I’m just a top like that,” I said.

“Pfft. I’d have that arse if I wanted,” Hywel countered.

I chuckled and shook my head, but couldn’t argue. I needed a fuck tonight to get Hywel off my mind. And I didn’t mind whether I was fucking or getting fucked.

The bar steadily filled and we each got a couple of rounds of drinks. A bigger bear type guy with tattoos that rivalled mine was eyeing me up from the bar.

“He would utterly destroy you,” said Hywel in my ear when he noticed. It sounded like a…warning? Concern?

“How do you know that’s not what I want?” I asked. When the bear moved toward the dance floor, I followed with my lager in hand. When I looked back through the lights, Hywel was scowling at me. Jealous that I’d scored before him, I wondered?

“Hi,” the big bear of a guy shouted over the music.

“Hi. Want to dance?” I asked. He moved in closer and put one hand on my hip as I danced with him. I wasn’t often one to take any kind of submissive role in public, but I ground my arse up against him in a way that I knew would rile Hywel. I didn’t know why I was so keen to make him feel jealous, but I was. And I was owning it.

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