35. Chapter 35

The hospital finally discharged Cooper on Christmas Eve, slightly under ten days, allowing him to be home for Christmas. His doctor was confident he wouldn't have any issues, so he could go home.

His parents wanted him at home to take care of him and spend Christmas there, but he opted out, wanting to be at the apartment alone with me, which swelled my heart and ego. I'd also told my parents I was staying in Austin with Cooper for the holidays. We could spend our first Christmas together with just us.

We walked into the apartment, and Cooper stopped in his tracks to take the place in. The day before his discharge, I'd spent a few hours at home putting up a fake tree with colored lights and ornaments. I'd also strung up Christmas lights inside the apartment and on the balcony.

"This is awesome, baby. I love it."

"Thanks."

He glanced at the tree and frowned.

"What's wrong, Superstar?" I asked, shutting the door behind me and dropping his duffle bag onto the floor.

"There are presents there. I… didn't buy you anything."

I rubbed his back and gently led him forward into the living room. "I didn't either. We were a little busy in the hospital, right?"

He nodded. "But who are the presents from?"

"Those are from your parents, my parents, and our friends."

"Wow."

"Yep. They all wanted us to have something to open on Christmas day."

"I expected this from your parents, but not mine. God… I'm not sure what to say."

"They're trying, Coop."

"I know."

Cooper had had another talk with them, and apparently, his parents had lost an infant child before Ben was born. It crushed them so much that they withdrew. To protect their hearts from another loss, they toughened themselves up while toughening up their boys up, and kept them on a straight trajectory. They'd gone to therapy, but they still struggled to cope. But Cooper nearly dying was their wake-up call.

Cooper was pretty strong and he recovered well in the hospital, but I still had this protective need in me, so I grabbed his arm, led him to the couch, and made him sit.

"You don't have to baby me, Asp."

"Just give this to me. I like taking care of you."

He huffed a laugh with beautiful, bright eyes. "Okay." Cooper sat down with a sigh as I went into the kitchen to grab him some juice. "Later this week, maybe you can spot me at the gym. I need to build up muscle again."

"You got it, but don't go too hard. The doctor said to take it easy for the next several weeks."

"Yes, Mom," he said with a smirk, taking the glass of orange juice I handed him and chugging it down.

"Don't ever call me that again," I huffed and fell onto the couch next to him.

He put the empty glass on the coffee table. "Daddy?"

"Fuck you, Coop."

He burst into laughter as he fell back and dropped his head into my lap. I combed my fingers through his hair, which had grown out. It got wavier with the length, and I liked it. He reached for my face and trailed gentle fingers along my jaw.

"I miss touching you."

He was touching me now, but I understood what he meant. We hadn't been intimate for over three weeks now, not since our breakup.

"I miss touching you, too."

"You're so beautiful."

I smiled, and my heart beat a little faster. Knowing that he not only loved me, but found me attractive, just made it all more special to me.

"You know how I feel about your looks," I winked and coughed away the swelling emotions.

"Look at us. Two guys who once believed we were straight, and along comes Aspen with this crazy idea of bro-jobs. Who knew blow jobs would turn into this?" Cooper pressed his hand against my cheek, and I leaned into the touch and closed my eyes. "Who knew I would fall in love with a guy and my roommate? Never in my wildest imagination, but I don't regret a moment of it… Well, I regret the breakup. I'm so sorry to have put you through that, Aspen."

"Don't do that. I was never angry at you and always understood, so stop apologizing. We're way past that." I grabbed his hand from my face and kissed his palm. "I can't tell you how happy I am to have found my person. Hopefully, my forever person."

"I hope so, too."

The morning sun tried to peek through my blackout curtains on Christmas morning as I looked over at Cooper curled into my arms, still trying to wrap my head around how much I loved him and that he loved me back. He came out for me. I was enough.

The sun trickled over his ginger hair, making his head glow like a halo. Ethereal. Fuck, he was gorgeous.

Looking at him, my cock rose along with the sun, imagining all the things I wanted to do to him. My dick had been lonely the past few weeks without my superstar. The doctor wanted him to wait a bit longer before sex, but she said oral sex and such were fine as long as Cooper wasn't in pain and we didn't get too wild. Trust me, I asked as my baby blushed the reddest I'd ever seen him.

I snaked my hand under the covers, slid down his body, bypassing his bandaged stomach, and straight to his cock. He was as naked as I was. I didn't like clothes, and I didn't like clothes on Cooper, especially in bed.

I nuzzled in his throat and took a deep breath of his delicious scent. Between my hand slowly stroking him and my creepy breathing, he stirred awake. Cooper stretched and yawned before growing hard underneath my hand.

"You're one of those who wake up early every Christmas morning, aren't you?" he asked, his voice slightly slurred from sleep.

"Yep. Every time."

"Figures." He may have sounded like he was complaining, but he had a soft and sleepy smile on his face with his eyes still closed.

"I need my breakfast," I said as I sat up and worked my way down his body with kisses. Cooper snorted a laugh as his hands went to my hair, forking his fingers through the tangled curls.

His hard dick pulsed, waiting for my mouth, and I was happy to oblige. More than happy.

"Hello, Cooper's pretty dick. I've missed you."

"Nerd."

"He's so not a nerd. Be nice to Superstar, Jr."

He burst out into a laugh. "I mean you, dingus."

But he stopped laughing when I swallowed him down.

"Fuck… Yeah, he's missed you, too."

I ran my tongue from his base on one side, rolled it over his leaking tip, and down back to his base on the other side.

"Mmm, feels good."

I popped off and pumped him. "Are you okay? Hurting?"

"No way. Don't stop now. I need my Christmas blowie."

I chuckled. "Now, who's the nerd?"

I swallowed him back down and took him as deep as I could, breathing through the gag and using my tongue to swipe along his sensitive points.

"Fuck, baby… right there. God, your tongue. It's been forever."

It didn't take long before he came down my throat, and I happily gobbled up all his cum. As he lay there prone, I sat up and quickly stroked myself to completion, coming all over his chest.

I fell back into the bed, and he curled up against me, neither of us caring he was covered in my cold cum, and pressed his soft lips to mine. "Merry Christmas, baby," he said over my mouth, uncaring that we both had morning breath.

"Merry Christmas."

I pulled on a freshly ironed button-up in pale blue, already feeling like my skin was literally choking against the cotton, but I needed to look nice tonight and make a decent impression.

Cooper came up behind me as I stood in front of my dresser mirror, moved my curls away, and kissed my neck. "You're right."

My smile was crooked as I buttoned up my shirt. "I'm always right."

He rolled his eyes and nibbled my earlobe. "I mean about the naked thing. It was pretty freeing."

"See?" I turned around to face him, leaned against the dresser, and pulled him against me between my legs. "Does this mean we'll always be naked around the apartment together?"

"Hmm, sometimes."

"Maybe you're right. Do you have any idea how hard it was to not just take you? My dick was dying to climb into that hole of yours all day."

"Yeah?"

I nodded. "Maybe one day."

"Maybe sooner."

I stood straight, wide-eyed. "Really?"

"Yeah, really. I want to experience it all with you, Asp."

"God, I would love that, but only if you're comfortable. I don't mind being a bottom."

Cooper slid a hand down into the back of my slacks, slipped inside my underwear, and fingered my hole. "And be the only one to have a cock in him, pegging that prostate? No way."

"Then we'll do it as soon as you're better."

"Sounds good."

He nuzzled my neck again, and this time he slid his hand down into the front of my pants, cupping my cock, but I yanked his hand out. "Nope. No way. I'm not facing your parents with a hard-on… ever. I want them to like me, Superstar, not recoil in horror."

"Fine." He pouted off to finish knotting his tie. "You look handsome, by the way."

"I'm being strangled."

His smile turned crooked, and he stepped up to me to peck my lips. "I appreciate your sacrifice."

I rolled my eyes. "As soon as we get home, I'm getting naked."

"Deal."

"And so are you."

"As if I would have it any other way."

Regardless of our banter, I was nervous as fuck. I hated wearing all these fancy clothes, and my hands were all clammy. God, I hoped I didn't sweat through my shirt. Gross. Good thing it was cold outside.

Thirty minutes later, Cooper and I held hands as we stepped into the expensive seafood restaurant. I'd never been to such a fancy place. When my family and I went out to eat, it was usually at a diner or Tex-Mex place.

"It's going to be great," he whispered in my ear, trying to put me at ease, but he didn't sound so convinced. The last time I talked to his parents was in the hospital, which had been awkward as hell.

"The Summers party, please," Cooper said to the hostess, who led us back, deeper into the restaurant full of wood and leather seating. The aroma of seafood and garlic filled the air, making my stomach grumble. His parents waited for us in a booth, talking quietly together.

I secretly wiped my hands on the coat I carried to dry them. When we reached the table, Cooper gave his mom a brief hug and his dad a handshake. Then they offered me their hands to shake.

Cooper and I sat down next to each other across from his parents. His mother was very beautiful, and I could see where Cooper got his looks. His dad was attractive, too. But you could tell they weren't easygoing people like my parents. I wondered where Cooper got his more chill vibe from. Maybe he'd always been instinctually fighting his parents' control since the beginning.

As expected, things were awkward as hell, and we didn't talk very much. I wanted to order a drink to chill the hell out, but I didn't want to make an ass of myself, so I opted for water, as did Cooper, since he wasn't allowed to drink yet.

His dad coughed. "So, Aspen, what are you majoring in?"

"I'm working on a degree in social work and youth services, but I think I'm going to change it."

"What?" Cooper asked. "That's news to me."

"Yeah, I hadn't told you yet, but I'd planned to soon."

"And what are you changing it to?" his mom asked.

"Psychology. I want to get a master"s and be a child psychologist to work with trauma. At first, I wanted to do social work in the foster care system since my parents fostered me and my sisters, but the system is pretty messed up. I would want to make everything so much better, but there's only so much one person can do to fix things, and I'd only end up getting distressed and dejected. Then, I thought perhaps if I could help one kid at a time in a more profound way, it would be better." I looked at his parents and Cooper, all staring at me. "Uhm, sorry. I… got a bit rambly there."

Cooper smiled broadly and placed a calming hand on my thigh. "That's an amazing idea."

"Yeah?"

"Mmhm."

My rambling may have helped because his parents relaxed a bit and sipped their drinks. We ended up talking a lot about my upbringing in foster care, my sisters, and the work my parents did. We also discussed Cooper's love of football. His parents never addressed our relationship, but that was fine. They tried to warm up to the idea and had been perfectly polite to me. It was a good step and better than I'd expected.

After dinner, I thanked them for paying for it and said that I was happy to see them again. When they walked away to head to the hotel they were still staying at, Cooper turned to me and pulled me against him before pecking a kiss on my nose. "I think they like you."

"God, I hope so. It would be hell if they didn't."

"How can anyone not like Aspen Harper, the sweetest and smartest man I know?"

"I am pretty special."

He smirked and kissed me. "Nerd."