Christian woke up suddenly. Something felt wrong. In an instant, he knew what it was. Syed was not there. Worrying thoughts flashed across his mind. Had Syed got dressed and disappeared without a word?
No, he reassured himself, those days were gone. Syed lived with him now. But where was he?
"Sy..?" he called out.
He was instantly relieved to hear the sound of Syed's laugh.
"Bloody hell, Christian," Syed called from the bathroom. "I'm only having a pee."
"All right, but hurry up," Christian called back. "I miss you."
"God, I can't even go to the toilet with you around," Syed replied. "I'm just washing my hands. I'll be back before you know it."
"You'd better be," Christian smiled.
In the half-light of the flat, Christian became aware of Syed's naked body returning from the bathroom. Syed lifted the duvet, climbed on top of Christian and settled down with his head on his shoulder. A strong sense of warmth and contentment overwhelmed the two men, as they slid their arms around each other. Christian put one hand in Syed's hair and stroked his fingers through it softly.
"You're so possessive," Syed laughed. "You never let me out of your sight, do you?"
"Too right," Christian replied, "because I'm frightened you won't come back."
Syed looked up at Christian. "You're unbelievable. We've been together for ages now. You should know I'm not going anywhere," he said earnestly. "Anyway, I was only gone for two minutes."
Christian looked down at the handsome face smiling up at him, which was half-covered with wavy black hair. "It was three minutes," he smiled back, brushing a stray lock out of Syed's eyes. "That means you have to give me three kisses to make up for it - one for each agonising minute without you."
"Anything to keep you quiet," Syed groaned in mock exasperation. He leant up and brushed his mouth gently against Christian's. Christian moaned with the sweet pleasure of Syed's soft lips on his.
"That's one," Christian said, lifting Syed off him. "Roll over for the other two," he commanded.
Syed lay down on his back at Christian's side. He knew what was coming next. As Christian moved on top of him, Syed moved into the position that they both liked best. Syed wrapped his arms around Christian's shoulders and his legs around Christian's waist, receiving his lover's warm body into his.
"Right. Time for kiss number two..." Christian whispered.
Syed opened his mouth a little to accept Christian's kiss. With their bodies wrapped together tightly, their tongues began to slowly caress each other.
The intensity of their kiss brought soft groans from the two men. Syed slowly took his mouth away from Christian's. "Oh, Christian..." he whispered, his hands stroking Christian's face. "Do you know I still get butterflies in my stomach when you kiss me really slow like that? After all these months..."
Christian chuckled. "I know, baby. It's the same for me." He looked down into Syed's eyes. Even in the half-light, Christian could see that Syed's eyes were wide open, alight with love for him. But the look of affection soon disappeared as the two men continued to regard each other, to be rapidly replaced with the familiar look of lust.
"No, we can't make love again," Syed said, reading Christian's thoughts. "I'm too tired. Anyway, we've done it twice already."
"I know we have," Christian said. "I was there, remember."
"How could I forget?" Syed smiled. "And both times took hours. I'm aching all over."
Christian laughed again. "So am I. But anyway who said anything about making love? You only have to kiss me one more time. Then I'll get off you and let you sleep."
"Like hell you will," Syed laughed. "I know you, don't forget. You never stop."
"Oh, so it's all my fault, is it?" As he looked at the soft, pink lips, Christian couldn't stop himself from giving Syed another gentle kiss. "I love you so much, Sy," he whispered into Syed's mouth.
"That may be," Syed said, still smiling, taking his lips away again, "but you've had your three kisses. I've done my duty. Now let me go."
"Oh, it was a duty, was it?" Christian started to release Syed from his embrace, but Syed held him tightly.
"Only joking," Syed laughed. "Anyway, that last one wasn't a real kiss, was it? That was only half a kiss. Kiss number two-and-a-half."
"Time for kiss number three, then," Christian replied, still gazing into Syed's eyes. Aware of the warm, inviting body moving slowly underneath him, he felt desire rising in him.
"Sorry, Sy," Christian said, "but I think we will have to make love again, actually."
"I know," Syed replied, as he felt again how right everything seemed. "And I love you, too."
And, as Christian forced his mouth hard onto Syed's, kiss number three began...