When Hope awoke the next morning, he instinctively reached over to Snow's side of the bed to cuddle him, but he wasn't there. He opened his eyes to check, but no – his side of the bed was empty, and there were no sounds coming from elsewhere in the apartment. He peered bleary-eyed at the clock at the side of the bed, which proclaimed it was 8:13. Snow must have already gone out to do some work. Hope rested his head back on the pillow and, without meaning to, fell asleep again.

When he did finally awake for the second time, it was now 10:25, and Hope felt a little guilty for sleeping in so late. Still, he must have been really tired. Perhaps the extra sleep was necessary.

Still yawning, he made his way over to the shower, casually undressing on the way. By the time he'd made it to in front of the bathroom mirror, he was wearing only his black briefs from yesterday. He brushed his teeth methodically, and then examined himself in the mirror.

At first he simply combed his hair with his fingers, scratched his face, examined a mark on his shoulder. After a few moments though, he remembered his revelation from the previous night. When he looked at Snow, he always saw the body of a demigod, of a top-ranking athlete, of an all-round stud. His muscles were well formed, his body so proportionate, his face so gorgeous, his cock so delicious. But when Hope looked at his own body in the mirror now… He saw a skinny runt. He ran his hands over his torso. True, he was a little more toned than he had been two years before, but he still wore small sizes in t-shirts, and even they could be a little baggy sometimes. He was also much shorter than Snow, still, and it looked as though he was always going to be. He had virtually no body hair, too – admittedly Snow didn't have very much either, but Hope had always found the small treasure trail of blond fuzz leading from his naval to his crotch to be quite a turn on.

Hope pulled forward the hem of his briefs and examined his own crotch. Perhaps what he considered to be one of his own greatest shortcomings was his penis; whereas Snow's was about nine inches in length when hard, his was only five. In fact, Snow's penis was bigger when soft than Hope's was when hard. He hadn't thought about this much before the previous night – he had always been so sexually attracted to Snow, so focused on his partner's body during sex, that he'd never thought to compare his own attributes to Snow's. And now that he was, it wasn't really obvious exactly what he was bringing to the table.

This made Hope feel somewhat sad. He clenched his fists in front of the mirror in frustration. He was determined not to let this get to him, though. He could easily make up for his shortcomings. He was not about to let Snow go, and so he vowed to prove himself as the best boyfriend he could be.

xxxxx

xxxxx

It was beginning to get dark again, and Hope was incredibly busy. He'd been working all day to get the place looking nice, tidying and cleaning the whole apartment. He'd vacuumed all of the floors, cleaned all of the surfaces, washed all of the clothes (which set him back about fifteen minutes more than he'd intended while he pleasured himself over a used pair of Snow's sexy boxers, but what Snow didn't know wouldn't hurt him), arranged some candles in the kitchen/living room and the bedroom, and was now preparing a chicken with some vegetables to roast in the oven. He'd just put the tray in and was wondering what to do next when Snow walked in through the door.

'Hey, this place looks nice,' he said with a note of pleasant surprise in his voice. 'What… what have you been up to, Hope?'

'Just thought I'd get the place looking extra-special for my extra-special boyfriend,' Hope replied flirtatiously. 'How was your day?'

'It was hell, actually,' said Snow languidly, hanging his favourite trench coat up on the rack next to the door. 'I had to get up at 6:30 this morning and drive the bike out for an hour just to get to McCready's, and I've been helping him and some others shift logs and concrete pretty much all day since then.' He stretched his arms and back out, and growled. 'Gods, I'm really sore now.'

'Then you just come with me,' said Hope excitedly. 'We've got plenty of time before dinner's going to be ready, and I know just how to make you feel great.'

'Whuh-?' Snow started before being taken by the hand and led into his own bedroom. He didn't resist. He was surprised to see more candles at the bedside, and flower petals distributed across the bedsheets.

'Get undressed, and lay face down on the bed. Get yourself comfortable,' Hope commanded. While Snow obliged, apparently too fatigued to question him, Hope fetched a bottle of massage oil from the drawer in his own room. This was going to be fun.

When Hope returned, he was treated to an enjoyable sight – Snow's pleasantly tanned body, laid out on the bed in front of him, and all his to play with. He unscrewed the cap of the massage oil, and prepared to apply some to Snow's back.

'This might be a little cold,' he warned. Snow mumbled a response, and then hissed a little when it was gently squeezed onto his naked back.

Hope started gently, spreading the oil out across Snow's impressive breadth, and began lightly kneading Snow's back. Snow himself started purring and groaning, which Hope took to be a pretty good sign. He worked his way right up to Snow's shoulders, and right the way down to his lower back, stopping along the way to give extra attention to any areas where Snow groaned extra loudly.

'Fuck, Hope…' Snow mumbled through the pillow. 'You're… you're really good at this…'

'You'd better believe it,' Hope replied, smiling with satisfaction at his own abilities. He took a moment to apply some more oil – this time to Snow's buttocks and legs. He climbed onto the bed in between Snow's legs for better balance and access, and continued working. The weather had been pretty hot all day, and now the movement and the candles dotted around the room were making him pretty warm. He removed his own black shirt and tossed it to the floor.

'You want me to do your feet as well, big boy?' asked Hope as provocatively as he could manage. Snow only growled in response, which Hope took to be a sign that he was performing his job well. He smiled to himself as he crouched and massaged each of Snow's large feet in turn.

After he'd finished, he suggested that Snow turn over so Hope could massage his front. Snow only gave an obliging grunt and rolled over onto his back. If the almost zen expression on his face wasn't enough to convince Hope that he was in serious pleasure, then the fact that Hope could now see Snow's dick, fully hard and resting flat against his stomach, surely was.

This time Hope started from the bottom up – he once again crawled between Snow's legs but this time applied oil and massaged his shins, worked his way up to his thighs – which seemed to make Snow groan particularly loudly, presumably because of all of the heavy lifting he'd said he'd been doing – then over his hips and up to his abdomen. Hope took great pleasure in squeezing the oil from a height onto Snow's muscular torso, making lines and shapes with it before lowering his hands and massaging it in. Rubbing his hands over Snow's muscles was also turning him on considerably – his own cock was throbbing in his pants, and he found it a genuine struggle to keep himself from whipping it out and stroking himself to climax over Snow's gorgeous frame.

'You can take 'em off, kid,' said Snow with a cocky smirk, looking down with one eye open at the pronounced bulge in Hope's pants. 'Those trousers of yours are pretty tight fitting and you look like you might burst out of them if you don't take 'em off.'

Hope blushed a little, embarrassed that Snow had noticed. He'd thought he'd had his eyes completely closed. Still, he couldn't fault his boyfriend's logic, so he unzipped his cargo pants and tossed them aside as well, feeling much less restrained now in just his sky blue briefs.

'That better?' growled Snow, the smirk on his face even more pronounced. Hope didn't want to give him the satisfaction of an answer, so he decided to shut Snow up by grabbing the man's cock firmly with one hand. It had the desired effect – Snow gasped loudly at the sudden unexpected pleasure, and arched his back slightly, moaning for more.

Hope smiled. Under the guise of running his hands directly up Snow's torso, he was able to bow his head nearer and nearer to Snow's crotch. Eventually he came to rest with his head right between Snow's legs, close enough to see every vein at the base of Snow's cock (which by now was as impressively hard as Hope had ever seen it), close enough to smell the scent of his manly hormones. Hope took a moment to admire both the view and the obvious need for more attention that Snow was emanating before leaning in and running his tongue over Snow's balls.

Snow grunted loudly and finally released the breath he'd been holding. The sensation of Hope's hot tongue licking every square inch of his balls was so pleasurable, so exactly what he needed, he couldn't help himself from groaning continually and using his right hand to both stroke Hope's silvery hair and push his face even deeper into his crotch. Hope didn't mind this. As long as he could occasionally come up for air, he could happily spend hours running his tongue over Snow's nether regions – not a task to be taken lightly, either, considering Snow's balls were as big as eggs anyway.

After a couple of minutes of thoroughly enjoying himself, and enjoying the reactions he was eliciting from his boyfriend, Hope decided it was time to start working Snow's dick. Slowly – teasingly slowly – he ran his tongue up the very centre of Snow's balls, and didn't stop when he reached the base of his dick. He kept going, tasting the entire length, and ended by kissing the tip. Hope noticed with glee that Snow's fists were clenching the bedsheets, apparently in eager anticipation. He licked and kissed some more, before grabbing the dick at the base with one hand so as to stand it up in front of his face.

It really was pretty huge. Once again, Hope could imagine himself spending hours just playing with it, on top of the hours he could spend playing with Snow's balls. He gave it some more generous licking, rubbing it gently against his face. He knew what Snow really wanted though, so after a moment he put his lips to the tip and slowly engulfed as much of it as he could manage.

'Ahhhh… fuck, Hope…' Snow moaned, trying to resist the temptation to grab Hope's head again and shove him further down onto his dick. As it was, Hope was much better at taking more of Snow's length than when they had started dating, but even now he couldn't go as far as halfway down without gagging. Hot damn though, he was rapidly becoming an expert.

Hope took Snow's louder growls and moans as a good sign, and kept sucking his tremendous penis. When he finally needed to withdraw for air, he kept up the momentum by tugging it with both hands. It certainly was a two-hander cock. To keep it slick, he applied some more of the massage oil and continued stroking it ever more vigorously.

Snow was bucking his hips into the movement now, groaning with each thrust and making the bed creak. 'Hope, I'm… I'm close…' he panted, his eyes tight shut in pleasure.

Hope said nothing, but gratified Snow more by sucking his balls again whilst continuing to stroke his cock – he knew Snow liked having his balls played with while he came. Sure enough, Snow's moaning picked up in speed and intensity (louder than usual, Hope thought to himself) and after a moment came all over his own chest. He roared with satisfaction, and then with one powerful movement grabbed Hope's body with both hands and pulled him up, squishing his little body against his own, embracing him and kissing him aggressively. Hope himself moaned into the kiss, elated that he had given his boyfriend exactly what he needed.

'Looks like we're not finished yet, kiddo,' grinned Snow after they finally broke the kiss.

'What do you –' Hope started, before sitting up and realising that Snow was referring to the rock-hard bulge in his own pants, which had now accumulated a small patch of pre-cum at its tip. 'Oh, heheh, I guess I got pretty turned on. But we don't have to –'

But Hope was stopped mid-sentence again, this time because Snow had already lowered Hope's briefs with one hand and was pumping his dick with the other. It felt really, really intensely good. He hadn't realised how much he was longing for it, but he was so extraordinarily turned on that it was less than twenty seconds of attention that he needed before he cried out, unable to contain himself, and ejaculated his own load everywhere – hitting the bedsheets, the pillows, Snow's chest, his face and even the wall behind him.

It had felt so intense, Hope's body had gone almost numb. He could see stars before his eyes. It took several deep breaths before he was able to focus again and see Snow, looking up amusedly at him with one eyelid closed. 'Wow kid, you damn near took my eye out,' he chuckled.

Hope smiled a little, slightly embarrassed, and still dizzy from his orgasm. Snow clearly sensed this, and so guided him gently back down to lie on top of his chest, and started gently stroking his silvery hair.

'I love you,' said Snow staidly. Even in his languorous state, Hope knew that he was telling the truth. His boyfriend loved him.

xxxxx

xxxxx

Cleaning up was not an easy task. They used tissues to clear up what they could from the bed and the wall behind it – Snow made a joke that he felt like a hazmat officer conducting a clean-up operation, or perhaps a brothel owner resetting a room for the next client, which did not amuse Hope. Snow assured him he was only teasing, and kissed him on the top of his head.

They showered together – which was one of Hope's favourite pastimes, it being just another excuse to touch his boyfriend some more – and dried off. 'Dinner will be ready to come out of the oven in a few minutes,' Hope reminded Snow, checking his watch as he put it back on his wrist. He had gotten fully dressed again, but it seemed Snow had deemed a pair of white boxer briefs and a tight-fitting white t-shirt to be sufficient evening wear. Not that Hope was complaining, naturally.

The meal was delicious. Hope genuinely believed he had outdone himself in terms of his cooking, and, more importantly, Snow seemed to believe so as well.

'That was fantastic, Hope!' Snow exclaimed after he had finished his plate, which had been twice the size of Hope's. 'Really fantastic. Just what I needed, actually.'

'I'm glad to hear it,' said Hope, smiling with an inward satisfaction. 'Did you want any more? There's a bit left over.'

'Oh, no thank you,' Snow growled, pushing his plate away from him and rubbing his stomach. 'I might explode. But… maybe save it in the fridge for me tomorrow though?' he added sheepishly.

'Haha, you hungry beast. Yeah, I'll wrap it up for you,' Hope said, and left his seat to cover the remaining food in foil. Snow must have been surprisingly light on his feet for such a heavy man who'd just eaten so much food, though, because Hope didn't hear him also rise from his chair after a moment and creep across the room to give Hope a hug from behind. He enjoyed the sensation; Snow's arms were so big and warm…

'You've really been looking after me tonight, babe.' Snow was speaking tenderly into Hope's neck, which he kissed softly a few times before gently nibbling Hope's ear.

'Well someone has to,' Hope teased. 'Knowing you you'd probably forget to eat unless someone fed you.'

'Aww, you hurt my feelings,' whined Snow, feigning upset. 'Come on, let's go watch some TV.'

They spent maybe an hour relaxing and watching TV before Snow started yawning audibly, which seemed to trigger Hope to start yawning as well. When it was eventually time to head off to bed, the two of them seemed to be of one mind as they routinely brushed their teeth, undressed, turned off the lights in the rest of the apartment and so on. Hope was already in bed and his eyelids were drooping when he felt the mattress shift underneath him as Snow climbed in. He instinctively turned towards him and shifted a little closer to his warmth.

'You really gave me a nice evening tonight, Hope,' Snow mumbled as he reached his arm around Hope and stroked his side. 'The food was delicious, and the massage… damn, you were so sexy.'

'I was?' asked Hope, almost too gleeful to believe what he had heard. 'You really think so?'

'Of course!' replied Snow. 'I doubt there's anyone else in the world who can turn me on the way you do.'

Hope decided to probe this. 'Snow… I have to ask. It's been on my mind a little, and it's probably really stupid for me to ask, but… what exactly do you see in me?'

'Huh?' replied Snow, confused. 'What do I see in you?'

'Yeah,' said Hope, shifting up to rest on his elbow. 'I mean, when you and I got together… it was really me making the advance on you, and you just kind of went along with it, I guess. I guess what I'm saying is, I know what I find attractive about you, but… I just don't know what you would find attractive in me.'

'Are you kidding?' asked Snow with some incredulity. 'You're the sexiest guy I know, bar none. Physically and otherwise.'

'But I'm not!' Hope cried, losing face a little. 'You're this big, hunky guy, with stubble and a handsome face and a dick the size of an eggplant.'

'Well I'm flattered…'

'Shut up. What I'm saying is, you're so obviously attractive for all of those things, but… I don't have any of those things… I don't feel very, very attractive like that…' Hope started to well up, and Snow pulled him into an embrace.

'Hey, hey! Come on. Who ever said that muscles and stubble and whatever is what I'm interested in in other guys?'

Hope pulled away, a questioning look in his eyes. 'What do you mean?'

Snow's eyes widened a little as he realised the severity of what Hope was implying. 'Gods, Hope! You mean you really think, all this time, when I've called you sexy or whatever, that I've been joking? Or lying? Of course I find you attractive! But there's more to being sexy than being big and strong and…' he looked down at his crotch. '…Yeah. You're sexy… in a way that I'm not. In a way that turns me on.'

Hope didn't reply, but cocked his head curiously. This was all news to him.

'Fine,' said Snow authoritatively and sat up to turn on the lamp by the bed. 'If I have to spell it out… I normally don't say things like this, because I learned early on in our relationship that you got embarrassed when I gave you compliments.' It was true – Hope recalled Snow would often call him things like 'gorgeous' or 'sexy' or 'best boyfriend in the world', and each time it would make Hope feel squishy and weird. Sort of in a good way, but sort of like it was too much for him to hear. Snow continued: '…that said though, maybe it would have done us a lot of good if we'd talked about this before…

'First off, your dick isn't exactly small. It's a decent size. I guess mine is a bit bigger than average, but there's no reason to compare them… I like yours, and wouldn't have it any other way. Also, you said you feel embarrassed about being skinny. But I like skinny. You don't have to be muscular to impress me or turn me on. I get a much bigger kick out of you being small-sized, and uh… easier to cuddle!' Snow was smiling happily. 'You have gorgeous hair, gorgeous eyes, and such a pretty face, and… damn, such a nice ass.'

'…My ass?' Hope asked, looking downward as Snow moved his arm down to give the body part in question a stroke and a squeeze.

'Damn right. I suppose you wouldn't know what you look like from behind. But I can tell you for nothing, it's a sight I'd pay more than a few gil to see.'

'…I guess I'd never thought about that as being a "feature" of mine.'

'Honestly, it is. One of the nicest asses on Cocoon, I'd bet. It's so smooth, so round and pert, it just makes me… grr,' Snow concluded, giving another squeeze. 'And that's not all. An even more obvious way in which you "beat" me, if we're gonna compare, is the amount of cum you produce. I'd've thought that was pretty clear. Just look at how long it took us to clean up tonight, for instance.' Snow chuckled in a teasing way.

'Well yeah but… I didn't think that was a good thing… I've always been kind of embarrassed about it… making such a mess…' Hope shuffled guiltily.

'Damn kid, you don't need to be. I think it's hot. Serious.'

'Really?'

'You bet. I can't really explain it. It's like, it's a turn on to see how turned on you are, if you get me. And when you put the whole thing together, your slinky body and your cute face and your sexy ass, well… I mean, maybe it's not a "masculine" look exactly, but let's just say that masculine… isn't what I'm interested in, you dig?' Snow raised his eyebrow suggestively.

Hope couldn't believe it. He'd always been embarrassed, almost ashamed to have such a feminine body. And now Snow was saying… that was something he actually found attractive?

'Come on Hope, you know what I'm like. You used to get at me for it all the time… always wanting to be the hero, always wanting to be in charge, always needing someone to protect, blah blah blah. Did it ever strike you that that's the same way I'd behave in a relationship? I don't need my boyfriend to be another hero – I need my boyfriend to be someone who needs me to be his.'

Snow must have gauged that he'd said enough, as he left Hope to think for a moment. It was true, he'd always seen Snow as being his hero. That much was clear. But he'd always felt like that was somehow one-sided, that something similar must have been expected of him. 'But then… if you're the big protective hero and everything…' Hope began slowly. '…What do I have to offer instead?'

Snow chuckled. 'Heroes need looking after as well, you know. Maybe just in different ways.'

Hope was beginning to understand. He cursed himself for his inexperience – he'd only known he was gay for about three years after all, and hadn't really had anyone to talk to about it. Gods, he barely knew how gay relationships were supposed to work. All he'd ever known was that he'd liked Snow – loved Snow – and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with him. He'd never even really imagined how the mechanics of their relationship were supposed to function. He knew where he could get some advice, though – he made a mental note to make arrangements to visit a mutual friend of theirs.

'I think that's something I would be okay with,' said Hope, still getting his head around the idea that he could be wholly dependent on his lover without relinquishing his pride. 'In my head, I think it makes sense. I think it's something I want.'

'I'm glad you feel that way… but there's no rush, remember,' Snow reassured him, lying back down and folding his arms behind his head. Hope nodded in admission and climbed on top of Snow's chest, laying himself down and nuzzling his cheek into Snow's neck.

Hope lay there contentedly for a minute or so, and then smiled to himself as he felt something growing hard against his leg.

'Say, uh,' Snow mumbled sheepishly, 'you wanna go again?'