Embracing the Tension Ch. 11

Ryan laced their fingers together and brought them to his lips for a kiss. Looking straight into Erik's eyes, Ryan whispered, "Okay."

Erik's world shifted on that simple action and that one word. Okay. They were going to do this. He was moving to Toronto, and they would live together and be a couple. They were going to make this work. It was happening.

He kissed Ryan, pouring the jumbled-up mix of emotions into that kiss—all the hope he felt for their future, excitement and anticipation for what lay ahead, and yes, the fear of the unknown and whether they actually had what it took to make it work. Then Ryan's fingers dug into his hair, and Ryan's arm wrapped around his back, pulling him down and deepening the kiss. Erik sank into it, swiping his tongue into Ryan's mouth, taking what he needed and surrendering himself to Ryan at the same time.

The future was still shrouded in darkness, but at least he had a light now, and that light was Ryan.

###

"Uncle Erik!" Chloe came barreling out of the house as he and Ryan climbed out of the car. She must have been watching from the window, waiting for them to pull up.

"Hey Clo!" He bent down just in time to catch her as she threw herself into his arms. "How are you, kiddo?"

He lifted her up and spun her in a circle as she squealed in his ear. When he finally set her down again, she jumped up and down, hands raised in fists over her head.

"You're here! You're here! Uncle Ry says you're not leaving anymore."

Erik chuckled. "He's right. I'm not going anywhere anymore. You're stuck with me."

She wrapped her short arms around his waist and squeezed as if she was never planning on letting go.

"All right, Clo. You need to put on a jacket before running outside in the middle of winter. Go inside; we'll be in right away."

"I'll go tell Mommy you're here!" She ran off only to stop right before the front door to turn around and wave.

As Erik waved back, his heart full of warm fuzzies, he knew he had made the right decision. He knew it the minute they drove over the US-Canada border with a carload of all his worldly possessions. With every mile they put between them and the border, it felt like another scale fell off his skin, another weight dropping from his shoulders. The atmosphere felt fresher, cleaner; the air felt more rejuvenating to breathe.

This was it, he thought as he looked at the house that was to become his home. This was his new life—with the people he loved most in the world and the people who cared most about him. He turned to Ryan next to him and pulled the man of his dreams into his arms.

"I love you," Erik said, slipping his arms inside Ryan's unzipped coat and wrapping them around his waist.

"I love you, too," Ryan repeated, just as big, fat snowflakes started drifting down all around them.

There had been a time, many months earlier, when they stood on the sidewalk in front of Ryan's house with the snow falling all around them and the idea of a relationship had barely been planted in Erik's heart. That had been the start of something new and exciting, and there was no way he would have guessed that it would bring him to another snowy day on the sidewalk in front of Ryan's house.

But this didn't feel like the end. It felt like a beginning.

"You okay?" Ryan asked.

The world was quiet, muffled by the falling snow, with only the faintest laughter of children breaking through. Erik nodded and told himself that the sniffles were from the cold rather than the emotion welling up inside of him.

"It's just so fucking cold," he said, but there was no conviction behind his words.

Ryan's lips curled into that lopsided grin. "You've got to embrace the cold. You're Canadian now."

Erik groaned. "I'll just embrace you. You can be my walking hot-water bottle."

Ryan's responding laugh was light and carefree, airy and animated, like the snow falling around them. "Come on, let's get your shit inside."

They unloaded the car with several trips up those long flights of stairs, and when the last box was stacked in the living room, they looked at each other with silly grins on their faces.

"We can get rid of that mural, right?" Erik nodded to the smoke detailing the wall.

Ryan looked sheepish as he glanced at the wall. "I guess I have the real thing now."

"Damn right, you do." Erik stepped in close and pulled Ryan into his arms. "And I'm not going anywhere."

Ryan tilted his head up for a sweet, lingering kiss—no urgency, no haste. They had all the time in the world.

"Welcome home."

THE END

*****

That's all folks! Took Erik long enough, didn't it? I hope you enjoyed the ups and downs that Ryan and Erik went through. They certainly earned their happily ever after, didn't they?

Thank you again for reading my writing! It is a pleasure and an honor to be able to write for you. Please check out my author page for updates on what I'm working on next!