Rivalries: Chapter Twenty-Six, Part Two

 Notes: This is, yeah, it. The end. Holy whoa, Batman!

There might be some round-up posts for future scenarios to provide closure, but I think this is the best I can do right now. Rivalries was a challenging story, and taught me a few things (mostly about planning out subplots) but I'm glad I wrote it, and I love that you stuck with me for it. Thank you so much for reading, for commenting, and for helping keep me motivated. I love y'all.

I've got an idea for the next story, but I'm not a hundred percent sold on it yet. I'm definitely taking ideas, if you want to throw some at me in the comments ;)

Thanks again, darlins. You make this blog worthwhile for me.

Title: Rivalries: Chapter Twenty-Six, Part Two

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Chapter Twenty Six, Part Two

 

Before Charlie, John would never have thought he was the kind of person who could do slow and steady. He was too impatient, too ready to jump into the next thing, to prepared to force it instead of letting it grow on its own. In his professional life, that was often a good thing—he tried not to push his kids too hard, but he sure as hell could push their teachers, their guardians, and the court system to give them as much support as they needed. It was one of his selling points, he thought.

But in his personal life—what little personal life he’d managed to have over the years—his need to push had led to lovers feeling rushed, or railroaded, or like they were a means to an end. Eventually it had been easier to focus on his career and let the personal stuff slip to the side, something to pick up later if he had time but not to stress over.

With Charlie, though, everything was different. John knew going in that he couldn’t rush certain things with Charlie—apart from the logistical difficulties of having one arm and the breakthrough pain Charlie sometimes suffered, he was unexpectedly…romantic. He wanted to savor, he wanted to take his time, and John wanted to give Charlie what he wanted. In this case, that meant going home, stripping slowly in the sun-striped shade of Charlie’s bedroom, lying back in bed and letting Charlie touch every inch of John’s body, turning him on and winding him up until he was gasping and trembling with need.

There was no way he could have made the blowjob last by the time Charlie put his mouth on John’s cock, but he tried. For about a minute, he tried, and then his ability to try faded away in the wake of the feel of Charlie’s warm, wet lips, his hand pumping the base of John’s cock as he sucked, the little sounds he made when the tip of John’s cock touched the back of his throat. Nobody could have lasted through that, and John was past caring to try.

He came, and the world went fuzzy with warmth and pleasure. Fatigue galloped in right on the heels of that, and he was barely aware of Charlie moving up his body, nestling between John’s thighs, and grinding until he came across John’s groin.

“Fuck, oh fuck,” Charlie groaned.

“Mmm,” John agreed. He wanted to say something else—anything else, really, wanted to be there for Charlie like he’d been there for John, but he hadn’t slept in more than twenty-four hours, and for most of that he’d been worried about going to prison for the foreseeable future. He’d been marinating in anxiety and stress, and for it to almost all be gone so suddenly was more than his brain could handle.

He fell asleep.

 

When he woke up hours later, he felt like a little bit of an idiot. He would have felt like more of an idiot if Charlie wasn’t spooned up behind him, holding him like he never wanted to let John go.

“You awake?” John whispered. If Charlie was asleep, he was going to let him stay asleep.

“No,” Charlie whispered back. “Just thinking.”

“About what?”

“You.”

John’s cheeks heated up. “Oh yeah?”

“Mmhmm.”

“Anything in particular?”

“Mostly about how much I love you.”

John knew his face was completely red at this point, but it wasn’t like Charlie could see it from behind.

“And about how much you scare me,” Charlie added, and John felt some of his elation fade away. He tried to turn around, but Charlie had a tight grip. “No, please. It’s easier for me to talk about it this way.”

“Talk about what?”

“Feelings,” Charlie said with a long sigh, and John chuckled. “Exactly, it’s ridiculous, but just—humor me, okay?”

“Okay. So.” John wriggled back a little closer, until there was no space between them. “Why do I scare you?”

“Because it’s too easy for me to picture all the ways you could leave me.” He shushed John before he could rebut the point. “And most of the ways I think up aren’t voluntary ones on your part, that’s not the point. The point is, I never thought I’d have to worry about this kind of thing. Like, ever. I always thought if anyone was going to be leaving someone else behind, it would be me doing the leaving. I’d never have to deal with the fallout because I wouldn’t be there, and that would suck, but…eh, that was what I signed up for, you know?” He pressed a kiss to the back of John’s neck. “And then I fell for you, and I realized that your life is crazy complicated, and if you being Dr. Mullins’ science bitch doesn’t catch up with you—”

“Hey!”

“—then your own vigilantism might take you away from me—”

“That was one time!”

“—or you might get run over by a bus, or killed accidentally by a student having trouble with their knack, or catch a cold that turns into pneumonia that turns into something that can’t be treated, and it fucking scares the shit out of me, John.”

John wanted to make light of this, to brush it off, but he could tell that was real fear in Charlie’s voice. “I’m not going anywhere,” he said after a moment.

“Bullshit. Who knows what would have happened if Dr. Mullins hadn’t been able to help you?”

“Exactly, who knows? It might now have been so bad, but about that.” John forced the turn this time, and stared Charlie directly in his beautiful blue eyes. “What the hell were you thinking, making a deal with her? She’s the literal devil. She’ll never let you go now, not if she can help it.”

Charlie shrugged as well as he could from on his side. “Worth it.”

“No, not worth it, you dumbass!”

“You’re here,” Charlie pointed out. “With me. In bed. You think you would be if she hadn’t come riding to the rescue? If she hadn’t pushed your court-appointed jackass aside and taken control of the situation? The colonel was prepared to do almost anything for his wife, and Principal Cross had one of those thousand-dollars-an-hour lawyers. You did everything right, but you were still fucked, do you hear me? You were fucked, and not the fun way.”

“I had you,” John pointed out.

“Yeah, and I brought in her and she brought her A-game, so clearly I made the right call.”

“But I’m worried about you,” John confessed. “I’m worried about what she might ask of you. I don’t want her to hurt you, or make you do something that will hurt others, just because of a favor she did for me.”

“It would hurt me so much more not to be with you anymore,” Charlie said, and now his eyes were wet. “It would kill me not to see you every day. And it would be bad for your students and bad for your friends, so honestly, you’re not going to convince me I did something wrong, got it? You’re just…you’re not. I’d do it again. I’d fucking sign myself up for life if it meant the difference between you free and you in prison.”

There was nothing John could say, because he honestly felt the same way. That didn’t mean he had to like it, though. “She’s a snake. She’ll fuck with you. She’ll fuck with both of us.”

“At least we’ll be together for it.”

“Yeah.” Yeah, they would. John would make sure of that.

Was it too early to propose? It was too early to propose, and he didn’t have a ring right now anyway. He’d have to get one, soon. “Are the kids okay?” He should have asked sooner, but his brain had been a little preoccupied up to now.

“They’re fine,” Charlie confirmed, and John sighed with relief. “Roland is seeing another counselor, but his foster mom says he’s doing really well. He should be back at school next week. Ari is…like a normal kid, but with a knack now. Huda is thrilled.” His voice went a little dark. “Not so thrilled that Colonel Applegate is obsessed with him now, though. That might be permanent, unfortunately, but Ari won’t get into trouble for it. Not after the extenuating circumstances are taken into effect.”

“Good.” It was as good as John could hope for. After everything, he was happy to have a little hope left in his system. “So I guess we just go through life with a sword of Damocles hanging over our heads for a while, huh?”

“Something like that.” Charlie grinned, then leaned in and kissed him. “But it’s not so bad, is it? Being stuck in legal limbo with me.”

“No,” John said, totally in earnest. “It’s the best.”

It wasn’t everything he wanted in life, but it was more than he’d really ever hoped to get. For the first time in a long time, John had a future that he was looking forward to, not just day after day of grind stretching out in front of him. It would be hard, and frightening, and probably more than a little painful, but there was love there now. Love for Charlie, love from seeing his work pay off, love for a system that had finally come down on his side, however hard it had been to get that far.

Love would be enough.