24. Quinn

CHAPTER 24

The next day was a Saturday, and Quinn woke up more happy and content than he had ever been. The morning after he got married hadn't felt this good. Weston was fast asleep, his face pressed against Quinn's chest. Quinn had some plans for the rest of the day, so he carefully reached past Weston to grab his phone. Before he could do anything, he had texts from Hunter to respond to.

Hunter: HOW DID IT GO HOW DID IT GO

Hunter: Jonny and I are freaking out please tell me what happened!!!!

Hunter: J is also wondering how his car drove, if you're safe, etc

Quinn felt full-body relief from the few casual texts lighting up his phone screen—not from the content, but the tone. Hunter was texting him like they used to text. Like best friends. Having a rift between the two of them had been a rotting void inside his chest. He could breathe now. He pulled the comforter up to cover Weston's exposed shoulders and took a selfie of the two of them. His smile was loose and relaxed, and he kept staring at how good they looked together. He sent it off with a quick note. Got here safe. Jon's car was great. West said the L word. So happy.

He took a moment to bask in his happiness. Weston hadn't fixed him. He wasn't magically better because he met someone wonderful and beautiful. He was better because of time, and meds, and his support system, and a smaller workload. But finding Weston at a moment when he could actually let joy in was a miracle.

He thumbed open Instagram and found Sienna. She'd followed him a while ago, and he'd followed back. She always liked the photos he posted with Weston, and he'd scrolled through her entire profile hunting down her photos with him, all the way back to photos when they were a couple, which was hilarious, knowing their relationship now. He messaged her and didn't have to wait long for her to message back, on board with his request. Then he searched around on his maps app to see what Duluth had to offer.

He dozed for a while after he figured out details, enjoying the warmth of Weston's skin against his own. The tip of his nose was cold, and he buried it in Weston's hair. When he had started watching video game streamers to help with his post-divorce loneliness, he couldn't have guessed he would end up here, in the bed of his favorite streamer, in love. Really, really fucking in love.

He shifted against Weston to get more comfortable and smiled when he felt Weston's full cock against his belly, his body moving to gain a bit of friction in his sleep. He let out the tiniest, softest little moan, and that was it for Quinn.

"Baby, blowie?" He nuzzled Weston's cheek as he slowly came awake.

"Yes," he said, yawning. His yawn was cute. Ridiculous.

While Quinn understood the argument for casual sex, for him, it was hard to beat relationship sex. Weston moved to his back, and Quinn settled between his legs and took Weston into his mouth. He knew what Weston tasted like, the exact texture of his skin, the sharpness of his precome on Quinn's tongue. He knew what Weston liked and what he didn't, and he didn't get far into his blowjob before he felt Weston's fingers slide into his hair.

"Is this what being in love is like?" Weston said, his voice rough with sleep. His hips thrust up into Quinn's mouth, and Quinn sucked hard, chasing the sounds Weston made. Sleepy morning sex, where inhibitions were lowered and there was no rush, where arousal was a simmer and not a boiling over, could be so fucking sexy. Weston flipped the blankets down so he could see Quinn, his fingers tracing the curve of his jaw, up to his temple, down to the tip of his nose like he wanted to memorize Quinn's exact bone structure.

Stretched out before him was Weston's smooth, pale skin and the dusting of dark hair that trailed down his belly. His thighs fell open, his wet lips parted, eyelids barely staying open as Quinn kept his erection in the warmth of his mouth, one hand tugging on his balls, the other on the base of his dick. His own cock throbbed uncomfortably, and he humped the bed both for some relief and to let Weston know how much he was enjoying this.

"You're so fucking hot," Weston complained, thrusting into Quinn's mouth. Quinn could come pretty easily in the morning, his body loose and his arousal building from before he even woke up, and Weston was the same way. It didn't take long before Weston let out a whine and thrust up one last time into Quinn's mouth, filling it with warm, salty come he swallowed down. A nice, clean morning blowjob.

He licked his lips as he pulled off, and Weston let out a sigh before making Quinn switch places with him.

Yeah, this was what being in love was like.

Quinn told Weston to get ready for a casual midmorning outing, and on the way out the door, Weston took Quinn's key ring out of his hands and added two of his own keys. One to the building and one to his apartment. This was happening. It was real. He pressed Weston against the door to kiss him, and he would have stayed there indefinitely if they weren't on a timeline.

"We're going to the mall?" Weston asked as they pulled into the Miller Hill parking lot.

"You're going to the mall," he said, navigating Jon's truck to the Barnes & Noble entrance. He pulled a fifty from his wallet. "Get coffee for you and Sienna, and a book if you want."

"You're dropping me off for a playdate?" He looked confused but took the cash.

"I'm going to surprise you with something. It will only take a couple of hours."

"Okay…" While he obviously had his doubts, he still kissed Quinn when he leaned over the center console. Weston hopped out of the car, and Sienna waved at him from the bookstore entrance where she was waiting. Weston turned back before entering the mall, and Quinn blew him a kiss. Then he drove to the craft store.

The most time he had ever spent in a craft store was at the end of summers, when Hunter would drag him along to pick up stuff for his classroom, so he did a lot of wandering. The store was as big as a warehouse, so he got a cart and started scanning the decorations. On his way up the night before, he'd had the audio for Weston's stream playing in his car, and he heard him talking about how if he ever decorated, he wanted to decorate for winter but not for Christmas. Quinn was pretty sure he could accomplish that.

He bought fake cotton snow and white bottlebrush trees, so many twinkle lights, and some fake fir garland. He loaded up on anything white and sparkly to make it feel like it had snowed in Weston's apartment. Then he got a bunch of little adhesive hooks that wouldn't damage his walls to hang all of the decorations up with before hurrying back to Weston's place.

He used his new keys for the first time and hauled his bags into the apartment. Then he got started.

His first stop was around Weston's bed. The combination of fake snow and twinkle lights looked good, if he said so himself. Better than he thought it would. The "snow" was a sheet of cotton, and he'd gotten a lot. When it looked sufficiently magical, he moved on to Weston's stream background. Weston had a neon light that said "MidWeston," and Quinn didn't want to cover it up. He hung the snow from below the crown molding like he had around the bed, but he used a pair of scissors to cut a wavy edge so that it stopped before it hit the neon sign. He did the same technique with the "snow" for the shelves that had Weston's stream decor on them so that it hung a few inches off, with the same wavy edge. It wasn't exactly like Pinterest, but it looked good. He added lights more sparingly since he knew Weston had that corner lit specifically.

In the kitchen, the bottlebrush trees filled the dead space above his cabinets, and he even put lights up in the bathroom.

It took longer than he wanted it to, but all said and done, it was beautiful. He turned off the overhead lights, and even though it was the middle of the afternoon, it was overcast, allowing the room to shine. He took some photos and sent them off to Hunter. It wasn't as good as Hunter's work, but he figured Hunter might still want to see.

He had a handful of texts from Weston. Mostly photos of what he and Sienna were up to. The coffees he bought them, the book he picked out. They made it out of the bookstore and sat in the massaging chairs for a while before heading to Hot Topic. He picked out an acid-green nail polish. Hope you weren't expecting change, he sent with the angel emoji. Quinn smiled. No. He didn't need change. He didn't need anything other than Weston's happiness.

He headed back to the mall, and the three of them got lunch. Sienna knew what he'd used his time to do, but Weston was still in the dark, trying to get either of them to spill. Quinn liked Sienna. She called herself the president of the Weston Hall fan club. Quinn knew how important having a best friend was, and Sienna was great.

When they finally left and headed back to Weston's apartment, he spent the drive guessing. "Did you get me a puppy?"

"No. Do you want a puppy?"

"Yes." He fluttered his eyelashes, his smile extra sweet.

"Alright, noted. A dog could be cool."

"Did you put Christmas lights on the roof like the Griswolds?"

"No." He smiled at how close he got, though.

"Did you bake me a really extravagant chocolate cake that I can actually eat?"

"No, but we can look into that."

"Did you build an elaborate snow village in the apartment building yard, enlisting all of my neighbors, who are now all sitcom-level best friends? Are we doing a soup cook-off later?"

Quinn couldn't help his laugh as he pulled into the apartment building parking lot.

"So no on the snow village."

"No. But I hope you like the real project."

Quinn used his keys again, catching Weston's little smile. He was so adorable, his cheeks red from the tiny amount of frigid temps.

"Alright, close your eyes," Quinn prompted. He had turned all the twinkle lights on before he'd left and flipped off the overhead lights. Weston covered his eyes in mittened hands, and Quinn guided him through the door, positioning him to take in as much of the space as possible at first glance. He stood behind Weston, his hands on Weston's hips, and told him to open his eyes.

Weston lowered his mittens and gasped. "Holy fuck."

"Do you like it?"

"It's so magical. Oh my god, Q, you did this all by yourself?" He shot an amazed glance over his shoulder at Quinn before walking deeper into his space to check out the decorations by his bed and his stream setup.

"Yeah, just me."

"This is so cool." He traced a finger on the edge of the slouchy snow that hung just above his neon light. "This is exactly what I wanted. How did you…?"

"I may not have been watching your stream last night, but I was listening. You said you didn't like Christmas much, but you love winter and wanted to decorate for that. No Christmas tree, but frosty snow and stuff."

"It's perfect." He jumped into Quinn's arms and Quinn spun him around. The one-year anniversary of getting his heart ripped to pieces was approaching, and he wished he could go back in time and tell himself that everything was going to work out. He would have to go through a bout of the worst depression he had ever had. He'd drag his most important friendship over hot coals. And at the end, he would rebuild his damaged relationships and have the biggest love he could ever imagine. It was all going to be okay.