The Journey Cycle Pt 2: New Zealand (pt 2 complete

Extra warning: Drug use in this chappie


10

Harry was the early riser the next day. He left his lover asleep and dressed quietly. Turning on the single burner, he started to make tea to hear a muffled groan from the bed. He sat back down as the kettle heated and brushed thick hanks of hair from his husband’s face. “Mornin’ you. How d’you feel?” A groan was the only reply. Harry stood and fished a hangover potion from their stores. He turned back to the bed to see Severus’ right arm leave the covers and the hand grab and release like a crab claw. “Please is the polite term”, Harry held it just beyond reach. Severus snarled and mumbled then farted loudly. Harry dropped the potion into the hot hand and retreated, “Ew, stinky arse, here’s your rotten potion. Fine thanks I get”, he waved his hand about, “Gawd, evil beer farts, save me”, he made a strangling noise in his throat until Severus’ face warned him into silence.

The older man slowly levered himself onto an elbow before yanking out the cork of the phial with his teeth, spitting it out and downing the thing in one. He slumped back down again letting the bottle fall to the floor. Harry snickered, “D’you need the bucket?”, to receive a headshake as answer. As the noxious cloud cleared, Harry sat back down on the bed and smiled down at his husband waiting until the potion was doing it’s work.

Eventually Severus blinked a couple of times and cautiously opened one eye, “Was I really that pissed last night?” Harry laughed, “You feel like this and you have to ask?” Severus grumped and slid further beneath the covers, “Did I show us up? Do anything spectacularly stupid? Anything like that?”, Harry leaned in and kissed messy hair as Severus turned his face to the pillow, “No, idiot. In fact, you looked like you were really enjoying yourself, though I wouldn’t seriously consider singing a career anytime soon, if I were you”.

Severus dared to look out again from under his curtain of hair, “Really? I didn’t make a total arsehole of myself? It’s a long time since I’ve been that drunk”. Harry kissed his nose but went no further when Severus tilted his face slightly, “Er, no, I think not, your breath isn’t the sweetest, darling. No, you had a great time, so did I and everyone else then you dragged me back here, shared a very juicy fantasy with me, then crashed out on me before we could do anything about it”.

Severus frowned, “I did? Oh, gods, which one?” Harry smirked dangerously, “You mean there are more where that came from? Oh, Sev, you naughty boy”. He stood and rummaged around in the cupboard above the wardrobe fetching down a pair of very faded and much-worn jeans, dropping them onto the quilt, “Whichever one it may be, it involved me wearing some shorts that you said you want to make for me and you may use these old jeans if you wish”.

Severus felt the flump on the backs of his legs as the jeans were dropped on them then remembered.....”Oh fuck, I recall now”, he mumbled as he tried to drag Harry’s pillow over his head. Harry poked him, “Sounds interesting. Now you go back to sleep. I’m going to make tea. Want some?” A shake of the head under the pillow and Harry left him to it. He made a pot, spelled it to stay hot and poured himself a mug. He slid his feet into the ancient yachting shoes with the trodden down backs that served as slippers on the road, shrugged on his jacket and stepped outside, closing the door as quietly as he could.

The site was mainly still asleep around him, their own encampment was still, all the others being still abed. Harry breathed in deeply as he felt the cold autumn air wake him up. He caught the eye of a young woman a few camp circles along. She waved at him and he saluted her with his mug. He sought out the deckchair and slumped down into it sipping his tea and contemplating the day.

Drawing his phone out of his pocket, he ascertained it was still before eight. The weed he had bought the previous night fell out with his phone along with the papers. He grinned at this and put a joint together. Lacking a lighter, he simply waved his wand surreptitiously at the remains of the fire get a merry little blaze going then drew out a stick to light his joint. He sat back in his chair and stretched his feet out towards the flames.

Ah, this was the life, he thought as he toked and sipped watching and listening to the camp slowly return to life. He felt something dig into his side, his wallet, and removed it from his pocket, peering inside. Merlin! Last night had cost them a pretty penny, there were rounds of beer and he remembered buying hot dogs for everyone at some point but it was somewhat ruefully that he realised he had a mere forty dollars left. Bugger, he didn’t want to have to take Bessie up and down that hill more times than he could help, thanks a lot. Maybe he could get one of the guys to give him a lift to the cash machine later, or maybe, this was the time to start making a little dosh.

He ferreted about in the top pocket of his denim jacket; there, found it. He had half a memory of purchasing hash as well as grass the previous evening, but as no-one had either a pipe or a bong, he hadn’t broached it and the half ounce lay there in his palm untouched. As most of his remaining cash had been spent on dope it was about time he made a little return on it. He unwrapped the package and examined the goodies, rather fine Afghani black if he wasn’t mistaken. Hmmm. Interesting.

Letting himself back onto Bessie as silently as he could, he quickly gathered up ingredients, a little dried fruit a couple of bananas, oats and brown sugar, a mixing bowl, wooden spoon and baking sheet and removed the butter from the fridge, swiping, as a final measure, the roll of ovenproof paper from the shelf behind the cooker before letting himself out again.

He laid his ingredients out before banking up the fire. As it caught properly, he took the rock away from the oven door and extracted the flat stone that he had stored there sitting it on the burning logs to heat up while he prepared his first batch of hash flapjacks.

The first batch burned on the bottom but that just made them extra-chewy in Harry’s opinion. The second batch worked much better and Harry sneaked back onto Bessie for the oven rack to cool them on. He detoured to Severus and kissed what little bit of the black-haired head that he could see before heading out again. He saw Frank hovering over the delicious smelling confections.

“Oi, don’t touch”, Harry warned and the fingers sneaking up on the furthest one were retracted hastily. “Sorry, you can have a bit, but you need to know they’ve got black hash in them. I’m going to see if I can flog them around site today. I’m running low on dosh, er, cash”. Frank sniffed at them, “Well, they smell mighty nice, I reckon you should get five bucks apiece for them. Here”, he rummaged in his jeans pocket and handed Harry ten dollars, “One each for me and Chris”. Harry grinned and ran back to Bessie fetching a small stack of clean sheets of kitchen towel and wrapping two pieces, handed them over, “Here you go, mate. Sleep well last night? The gig was good wasn’t it?”

Frank grinned as Harry took care of the third batch, “Aye it was a good night. Your Severus looked proper done in”. Harry chuckled as he nibbled the flapjack dough from his fingers, “Yeah, I’ve never seen him that pissed. It was great”. Frank was serious a moment as he squatted by the fire away from Harry, “Dunno”, he mused, “There’s somethin’ about you two, you carry sadness somewhere in here”, he made a fist and tapped over his heart with it, “Maybe you both need nights like last night, unglue you a bit. Travel ain’t just about what ya see, is it?”

Harry smiled back and shook his head, “Damn right, <>this, being here, is the real travel. We only met you, what? Four days ago? and here I am, on the other side of the planet making hash flapjacks on an open fire, the man of me dreams in bed in our home and, trust me, Frank, it doesn’t get better than this”, Harry giggled before it hit him that he had imbibed quite a bit of the raw dough from his fingers, “Whoops, better wash the hands not lick them clean”, he chuckled again to Frank’s guffaw. He had enough dough for most of a fourth batch and swapped them over as the third was tipped out to cool. He reckoned up that if he flogged this lot allowing for the odd giveaway, he should net well over a hundred dollars, enough to keep them in beer. They still had the weed to smoke and neither of them were monster imbibers.

Frank watched as Harry worked, he watched the oven in use and was stunned at the evenness of the baking, “So you’ve got just the one hot stone in here?”, he queried and Harry nodded, “Yup, just the one for biscuits and cakes, in an oven this size, gives you roughly a regulo 2 or 3 on the gas, you’d need a stone in the bottom and two upright at the sides in the same space to give you a regulo 6 or something hot enough to roast meat properly, but I could do pastry or pizza in here, no problem. You can do smoking or steaming in these things, too, but you need a vent in the top. If this was a proper winter or year-round cook fire, I’d build one, this is just a little version for a few days, it wouldn’t last a year”, he finished.

Frank still thought it was amazing but kept this to himself. At the earliest possible opportunity he was going to have a word with young Sammy and find out what he had found out about these new folks that had had them up ‘til the small hours. There was definitely more to these two than met the eye. Their ages for instance. Severus was only three years shy of his own age and looked at least twenty years younger, whereas you had to look hard at Harry to see any signs of aging at all, a little depth in the creases around his eyes when he squinted against the sun, very little grey in Severus’ hair and none discernible in Harry’s and that stuff that Severus had given Chris for his bite, he hadn’t been bitten again and for Chris, that was amazing.

What was in that stuff, there was no list of ingredients and the label was handwritten, but even so, what herbalist failed to write ingredients these days? He had a lot to think on. Sammy and Jed seemed very taken with them at any rate, maybe this week wasn’t the last he’d see of them. To be honest, he’d rather warmed to young Hal, a practical bloke with a good pair of hands on him. Frank always did like a man that was good with his hands. A proud artisan.

Harry stared into the fire realising he was more stoned than he should have been at this time of day, but couldn’t help but be aware of the scrutiny he was under. He was undecided as to whether to call Frank on it or not but decided against it when the pinging of his phone alarm told him the last batch of flapjacks was ready so he moved to retrieve them from the oven instead, ignoring the eyes boring into his back. He tipped them on the cooling tray as he placed the last batch on a plate and set to, clearing up. When he turned, it was to see Frank disappearing towards the shacks with a towel slung over his shoulder, his sponge bag dangling from one hand. Harry watched him go pensively.

He’d ask Sev to give him a more thorough ‘read’ later but for now, he returned the space to it’s usual state of tidiness. It was the one thing he’d dreaded when embarking on this, he hated messy campsites and had thought that the others might be slobs but they weren’t and he was happy. Sometimes when he had stayed on the traveller’s site on Burgh Heath, the others had worked him hard. They’d fed him and included him in most things and he was glad of that but he realised that a lot of them were a bit slobby in their approach and he was always cleaning up their site. He banked the fire down and took his tools back indoors to find Severus awake and sitting up in bed nursing a mug of tea.

Harry put his stuff down on the sink unit and came over to the bed dropping down onto it, “How are you? Feeling a bit better now?” Severus scowled, “Hmph, still a bit crap to be honest, but nothing a bite of breakfast won’t solve. What the hell did I eat last night, only I’ve had to go the loo three times already and it burns like the blazes”. Harry sniggered, “Well, you did insist on all that hot chilli sauce on your hot dogs. I’m not a bit surprised, you berk. That’s me out for topping for the next day or so”, Harry rolled his eyes and was growled at as Severus used his free hand to pull Harry to him for a kiss. He tasted much nicer now.

“So, what have you been up to while I’ve been unconscious?” Harry smiled against his mouth, the dope enhancing the sensation of his mouth on Severus’ and put out his tongue to taste, “Oh, just a bit of baking, nothing much really, testing out the oven, it works a treat. Gods, you taste incredible”, he felt all giddy as he wrapped his arms around his love and the kiss deepened. Severus fumbled his mug onto the tiny night table and closed his own arms around Harry pulling his body across him and plundering his mouth with his tongue.

“Mmm, what have you been eating, you taste sweet?”, Severus purred with a flushed Harry in his arms, “Erm, I was munching on the flapjack dough and I’m a bit wrecked now”, Harry admitted with a giggle. Severus held him far enough away to get a look in Harry’s eyes, “Merlin, Harry, what have you been doing? You looked stoned out of your brains”. Harry freed an arm to wave it expansively at the pile of baking on the plate, “We need to make a bit of dosh, keep up appearances and I bought half an ounce of hash last night and I’ve put it into flapjacks this morning. Frank already bought two. There’s nearly a hundred and fifty dollars on that plate, sweetie, for about thirty dollars of draw and a few dollars ingredients. Frank reckons they’ll go like hot cakes”, then he giggled at his own pun.

Severus gathered Harry to him, “I didn’t realise you were getting short of cash, love, you should have said something, I have nearly two hundred dollars on me, well, I did have until last night”. Harry smiled dreamily, “Yes, and we were treating everyone to rounds of beer and food. I bet you’ve got less than that now”. Severus shrugged, “We’ll have to go a bit easier for the rest of the time then, still, we’ve got loads of food, you don’t need to become a drug dealer surely, Harry. Couldn’t you get into trouble if you’re caught, suppose there’s undercover cops or something on this site?”

Harry laughed, “Come on, Sev, these are alternative people, they can smell the cops from a mile away. Didn’t you smell all that grass being smoked last night. I seem to remember that you were ready to offer the Freddy lookalike a big spliff on stage”. Severus squeezed his eyes shut, “Oh, shit. I wasn’t that stupid, was I?” Harry biffed him lightly, “Don’t be a silly. Everyone was having a great time, you most of all. I enjoyed watching you, to be honest”, Harry’s voice lowered and he reached up again for his lover and kissed him gently before he was grabbed and rolled over, a weight pressing him to the bed. He freed a hand to roam the warm flesh he found under it and grabbed at a warm arse cheek to a slight flinch from it’s owner.

“Ow, Harry. I’m a bit sensitive today”, into Harry’s chuckling mouth. “Sorry babe”, mouthed around an intruding tongue as his hands moved higher into the small of Severus’ back. One moved higher still to cup the back of Severus’ head and the other dallied over a hip and down onto the thigh which Harry pulled across his hips, then the hand swept back up to rub Severus’ back as the kiss grew sloppier and wetter. Harry ground himself upwards into that warm thigh and he moaned into his lover’s mouth who straddled him and ground them both together as the kiss went on and on.

In a flash, literally, Harry was naked and flinging his legs over Severus’ shoulders, “Oh, fuck, yes”, and other incoherent babble as he was prepared lightning fast and filled in a fluid move or two, the pot in his bloodstream making the whole experience so much more intense. When Severus moved in him, Harry thought he was going to pass out from sheer pleasure. Every sensation was magnified tenfold and the feeling of being so full was nothing short of bliss. Harry answered the thrusts but kept the movements fairly slow just revelling in the slowness of the buildup. He could feel every square millimetre of Severus’ cock inside him and was exhilarated by the love all around him as he was impaled gently over and over, Severus reading the need for this sensual treat in his man.

Every nerve under Harry’s skin was alive with heat and passion and he had never felt so vital and totally here in the world nor such an insignificant speck in it either and the combination of this hugeness in his chest along with the well of love in him that he wanted to give his mate caused him to go a little wild and ride his loved one fiercely, just to watch those dark eyes change, to see that deep flush in Severus’ face, to watch him bite his lip and wince against a strong pulse of passion as it washed over him, watch his lips as they parted and he moaned out random mumblings that all meant one thing. Severus loved Harry and always would. And Harry was happy, grinning as he watched his man unhinge above him, felt his cock thicken inside him, felt his hot seed bathe his insides and Harry screwed his face up tight, his balls contracted and he came a storm between them.

Naked, breathless, sticky and grinning like loonies, they held and kissed as they came down. Giving each other enough room so the sweat could cool. Severus was the first to venture speaking, “Bloody hell, Harry, I want some of those flapjacks”. Harry giggled in a low voice, “Oh, shit, I think a quarter one will do. I made them a bit strong. I should warn Frank not to eat a whole one, but I’m just too lazy to move right now”.

Harry turned on to his back to feel a warm weight press against his side and Severus’ head on his chest, an arm looped around his middle and Harry grinned sleepily, stroking his fingers through thick soft hair, letting the lassitude take him. After a while he was vaguely aware of the weight drawing away and the warmth at his side being lifted, the sound of urination and the loo being flushed. Harry could hear the minutiae in each sound and knew he was super-stoned. He heard the faint clink of metal on porcelain and wondered at it in his semi-comatose state. As he felt Severus’ head on his chest, he was aware of the man’s jaws moving.

“You had a bit?”, he could barely mumble, to feel a nod against his chest, “Just a quarter piece on your recommendation”. Harry gulped, “I have no way of knowing how strong a quarter piece is, Sev. I just ate the dough from my fingers, hardly an objective measure”. Severus licked Harry’s nipple then kissed it. “Too late now, the deed is did”. Harry laughed weakly, “When was the last time you ate hash?”

On an empty stomach, Severus felt the hash bite hard and fast. He was glad he was lying down for the initial rush, Harry’s steady heartbeat beneath his ear. He felt a ‘whitey’ threaten but he willed it away. He hadn’t had a full-on whitey since he was eighteen and he had no intention of having one now. He burrowed into Harry’s warmth and felt the chills die down before gracing Harry’s question with an answer.

“I was in my late teens and wondering about joining Voldy’s lot. Lucius had obtained some, and, health freak that I was, I refused to smoke, so Lucius had one of the house-elves bake a portion into some kind of sponge cake. Apparently, according to the wrecked elf that served me, it melts better in fat than water”. Harry smiled, “Very true, it’s fat-soluble, not water-soluble. I mixed this with the butter to render it down”. Severus continued, “I ate the damn thing, it tasted weird and I was as high as a kite for hours but the company was lousy and I spent a goodly portion of that evening in the Malfoy Manor library, pretending to look at the costlier volumes, white gloves akimbo, but I was uncomfortably smashed and on edge the whole time. This is nothing like it”. Harry could see Severus’ eyeballs move behind the closed lids and leaned in and kissed him, “No, it’s nothing like the last time for me either. Drae freaked out. We were in the ‘Cauldron, having a few jars and I had made some fudge which I passed around. The first hour or so went great but then it went a bit strange with everyone getting all paranoid and fretting. It wasn’t very nice at the end, we all ended up going our separate ways remembering the paranoia of the war. This is completely different”.

Harry ran a hot hand over Severus’ back, “I can feel every pore in your skin. I love every pore in your skin”, his voice was lazy and sexually charged. Severus was still reeling from the force of the hit. Sweat gathered on his top lip and in the small of his back. Harry felt the slickness gather. “Are you all right?”, his voice was light, dripping honey, “Yes, if you kiss me right now”, breathless and wanting, Severus’ lips parted. He started at the sheer electricity of Harry’s mouth on his and moaned as their lips closed together and their tongues came out to play.

Their groans were deeper as they clung to each other in desperate want but a loud knocking at the door brought them down in a hurry. Harry swore loudly as he climbed off Severus, wrapped his gown around himself and barked, “Yes!!” A shy voice that he recognised as Sammy’s. “We only want a bit of the flapjack. Frankie says it’s ten bucks a hit and worth every penny. Wanna sell us a bit?” Harry leaned back down to Severus and kissed him, “Hold on a minute, we need to be seen to be needing to make a little cash. I’d better attend to this”.

He wrapped a couple of slices in kitchen towel and opened Bessie’s door. Since he and Severus had sequestered themselves, the sky had darkened and the clouds were gathering, he pushed out the folded napkin and snatched back the two tenners offered. Sammy sniggered as he caught sight of the dishevelled Harry, “S’allright, mate, me an’ Jed want to be in the same state you are”, he cast an eye up and down Harry’s body. “Bloody hell, it must be good”, Sammy murmured as he turned away from Bessie with his napkin clutched firmly in his hand. Severus called out, “It certainly bloody is. Enjoy!!”

Harry laughed fit to burst as he closed the door again, his robe dropping open as he leaned against the jamb, holding himself up. He stilled as he felt the burning gaze of his lover upon him and faced him, his own eyes incandescent as he smiled slightly, rising up the step and pressing himself against the sink unit, leaning back, his eyes closed. In a single move, Severus was out of bed and claiming that upturned mouth with his own, “Fuck, Harry, I’ve never known anyone as sexy as you. I’m lost. Help me here. I give in to you. I want you so much”, he muttered as he pushed his hips into Harry’s feeling his lover’s hard cock rubbing against his own through the gown and he moaned, pulling at the offending piece of cloth, eventually ripping it as he led Harry back to bed, until they were lying skin to skin again and delighting in it, rolling over and back as they kissed, with joy and abandon. Something had broken between them and the last wall came down.

Despite the slight soreness, and because of rather than despite their mental state, they made real love that day, glued to each other, barely able to separate, however tired they were, they stayed in a bubble of two all day, making love, sleeping twined together, before desire woke them again, and so they spent the whole day, silencing charms laid around Bessie’s interior as they indulged themselves fully despite the enquiring knocks wanting more of Harry’s flapjacks, which were starting to gain a bit of a reputation on-site.

They joyfully ignored everything until raging hunger forced them back into the real world somewhat reluctantly. Severus was lying spent on their bed. Harry managed to stand after a minute or two and he decided he was the best suited to cook. He stepped outside Bessie to gather wood and was beset with requests for his flapjacks. He sold another eighty dollars worth before sealing the door again and cooking for them both on the range, the fire lit. He made a fairly rudimentary pasta bake that in their heightened state tasted like gourmet cooking and they relaxed in each other’s arms as they ate, feeding each other and loving each other so much that their gazes burned into each other’s eyes and they each saw it returned. Tenfold.

Severus was the first to find his voice, “I thought I was in love before, Harry, but, now..... I know”, was all he could say through thick tears as he held Harry to him and let the love he felt completely take him over and break down his last walls. Harry felt the final capitulation in his skin and as he held Severus close, he could finally utter it and mean it. “Mine, all mine”, into Severus’ ear to feel his man collapse against him whilst agreeing wholeheartedly, “Yours, my Harry. Now and ever more”.

Sometime during all this, they laid their minds open to each other for each to pick amongst but they were totally open to each other. Harry could feel Severus’ thoughts and he knew his lover could ‘read’ his own, Severus had always been the more accomplished Legilimens after all, but Harry found he didn’t really care any more. He had made vows to this man. Forever vows. And now was the time to begin to explore what this really meant. Harry was delighted at the nature of the next part of their journey, even while Severus was still a bit confused. Harry smiled, he would wait for his Sev to catch up, as he surely would. He was a brainy git after all. And Harry loved him so much. As Severus wrapped his arms hard around Harry, he knew, he was the only one for the man in his arms and he grinned as he buried his face in Harry’s hair, too lost to make conversation, too lost, just too lost, in Harry’s scent, his body, his hair and Harry knew what it was to feel truly loved.

For the first time in their lives.

Each felt consumed by love.

And each knew what bliss felt like.

There was a stoned concensus amongst the others not to disturb them that night. The newlyweds were having one of those days and it was better to leave them to it for now.

Jed and Sammy were having a similarly sticky and close day and for the most part had stayed in their tent only rising for nature’s calls and food. They lay now catching their breath from their latest bout of fevered love-making, Sammy on his stomach, Jed lying to the side of him tracing patterns in the sweat on his lover’s back.

Sammy raised his head, resting his chin on one hand, with the other he opened the flap of the tent a little way. He tilted his head in the direction of Bessie opposite them and slightly to the left, “I envy those two, you know, Jed”, he murmured in a low voice. Jed pulled himself closer to his lover and peered through the door with him, “Why? We don’t do badly and the wizard thing will sort itself out eventually, we’ll find someone to train you, even if we have to move away for a bit, go to Europe, whatever”.

Sammy turned his head and kissed his lover’s ear, “Really? You’d do that for me?” Jed shrugged slightly, “Yeah, ‘Course I would Dumbo. I do most of me business over the Net anyway, it doesn’t matter where we are”. Sammy was truly stunned but deep in his heart, this was like the final sign. He had a sudden ball in his gut and a slight smile on his lips, it was now or never.

“No, that’s not why I envy them, though it would have been cool to know about all this a bit earlier, but I’ll get used to that slowly. No, it’s something else. Something Harry and I talked about the night at the beach when you and Frank were showing Severus the bikes”.

Jed was now deeply curious and turned to Sammy with a frown. Sammy kissed the knotted brow, “It’s nothing bad, honest. It’s just I asked Harry something and the answer he gave me kind of blew me away”. He turned over onto his back and pulled Jed to him for a kiss, stalling for time. Fuck!! This was difficult!!! Jed could feel the tension in his lover’s mouth and pulled away. “Come on, Sammy-boy, talk to me, what’s on your mind? I’m just a pleb now you’re gonna be a big powerful wizard....”, he got no further when Sammy sat up, his eyes wide, “That’s what you think? That now I have this other side to explore that I’m gonna leave you or something?”. Shit this was going horribly wrong. Jed didn’t reply, just broke eye contact, but it spoke volumes to Sammy.

“You are so wrong. It’s the opposite, if you want to know”, he mumbled into his raised knees, then turned back to his lover sweeping his eyes over the long lean man lying beside him, from the bony ankles and slightly knobbly knees past his slender quiescent cock, the slightly convex belly, the ‘xylophone’ ribs, the flare of the broad shoulders, the finely cut face with the ready smile, the neat goatee, all the way past drown-in-them brown eyes with ridiculously long lashes to the long sweep of greying dark brown hair caught at the nape of the neck with a band. Jed tried to look relaxed but Sammy could read his tension, “I’m not sure I understand”, he huffed out a long breath as he lay back.

Bracing himself on one arm, Sammy let his free hand roam slowly over his lover’s body reading his every bump with the flat of his hand, a finger trailed over a nipple and made Jed smile nervously before the hand cupped his face. Jed turned his head slightly, kissing the warm palm. He had a feeling that Sammy was about to say something pretty momentous and his gut twisted. He had no idea. He thought everything was great between them at the moment, and he dreaded what he may have missed. Then he saw the look in Sammy’s eyes and the tears gathering and frowned in concern. He reached up with his hand and nudged the tears away with his thumb. Sammy blinked twice and took a deep breath.

“The thing I’m envious of is their togetherness. That night I asked Harry what it was like to be wed, how it differed from livin’ together, you know?”, he sniffled and Jed nodded, his mouth agape, “And”, Sammy continued, “He said he felt safe, safe from betrayal and safe that he’s enough for his man and Severus thinks he’s enough for him. That totally threw me and I set to thinking. Jed Copeland, you will always be more than enough for me. Is there any chance that you could ever think that I’m enough for you?”, he paused as the tears, now unleashed, poured down his cheeks but he kept his voice steady, “Jeremiah Reginald Copeland, will you marry me?”

Jed used his fingertips to wipe the copious tears away and felt a lump in his throat, “You’re really serious aren’t you?”, he croaked on a whisper. Sammy nodded, “I fuckin’ love you so much, Jed. Wizard or not, I want you there as we find it all out. And if it all bothers you, then, sod it, we stay the way we always were. I’ve lived without it over forty ruddy years, I can manage without. It’s no biggie....”, he was silenced by Jed’s mouth opening over his and a hot tongue invading. He moaned into the kiss, supporting Jed’s head with a hand before gently parting them with a final closed mouth kiss.

Before he could say another word, Jed held two fingers over Sammy’s lips. Then looked long and hard into Sammy’s steel-grey eyes, now pink-rimmed and still overflowing. Sammy blinked as his emotion poured from him. He was shaking and Jed pulled him down to rest on his own chest. “Come here, sshhh, relax love”, he smoothed a hand over Sammy’s hair as they lay, the other rubbed his back as his man shook.

In truth, Jed’s world had just tilted from it’s axis. Marriage? He hadn’t paid it much mind, even when the laws had changed, he and Sammy had just got on with it. They were both out with their families and Sammy got on well with his own siblings to the point of being named spiritual guardian to Jed’s younger brother’s youngest kid, a duty he took seriously. Jed adored Adele Samuels, Sammy’s mum. So there weren’t likely to be any family disapprovals, just the opposite when Adele and his own mother and elder sister got together. He sighed and held Sammy tight. It meant that their worldly goods would pass to each other not back into their families although that would never be a problem that Jed could see. No, this wasn’t about the legal stuff, this was because Sammy really wanted the lifetime thing. Jed kissed his fine hair as he thought and thought.

He thought on Harry’s words to Sammy. Enough. Sammy had always been more than enough. Jed always remembered when they met, two mature students at a uni full of immature teenagers. It had turned out that both of them had gone down the route of the rebellious, dropping out of university the first time round, then returning in their mid-thirties to give it another go and this time applying themselves. Testing each other on points of law or accounting practice. The relationship loose at first as each struggled through his professional exams and was accepted into the hard world of work. Somehow, they had weathered all of this and had stayed together. They had been exclusive for many years now, slipping easily into the comfort of the long term but with the edge at the back of it, that one could always leave the other without a backward glance, taking the possessions that he had added to their life and moving on. Marriage would change all of this.

Jed closed his eyes, he had always thought himself a free spirit, a road warrior, riding free, the wind in his hair, although, he had let the reality in from time to time. He was middle-aged, had a practice to keep up to keep him in the lifestyle he enjoyed, hadn’t shagged anyone except Sammy in nearly ten years, nor did he particularly want to, and these days, helmet laws were rigorously enforced, so he was more likely to arrive somewhere with a severe case of greasy ‘helmet-head’, than with locks tousled by the wind. As far as being a warrior was concerned, he was more worried that the shysters he dealt with would actually pay him when he audited their businesses.

He sighed, smiled, kissed Sammy’s hair again and accepted his life. Any new adventures he had had recently had Sammy at the centre of them. This whole wizard thing? Whoa! But he was totally intrigued. His own past was completely pedestrian by comparison. Loving family, dad dies of heart attack, leaves enough in the pot for three siblings to make the best of themselves through their adult lives and keep mum in the style to which she had become accustomed. A comfortable life, himself, the only rebel, the one who grew his hair long, played rock music too loud, rode large motorcycles. Then his mum, sweet liberal that she is, handed him a cool leather cord to tie his hair back with, sorted out his speakers so the sound stayed in the room instead of leaching into the rest of the house and helped him with his first down payment on his first Triumph.

And when he had come out to her, she’d just hugged him and told him that she knew he would be different and that she was proud to have a different child in her house, “Thank fuck for that”, she would say, “We aren’t all boring. At least one of my kids is interesting”, and Jed would blush but be proud and, as such, had rebelled but in such a way as to never really upset his mum. The first time he had taken Sammy home, he remembered his mother hugging him, “This one’s different. You’ll see. This one wants you for life, and if it matters at all to you, I think he’s really sweet”.

And now she was right. Sammy really did want him for life. Jed held his love who was relaxing a bit but still shaking somewhat. He looked down the long fair body, a little chunkier in the shoulders than he, thicker in the waist with a rounded arse to die for, strong legs showing his past and present interest in rugby, the muscular bunch on the calf, the luxuriant fawn hair on Sammy’s lower legs, the broad feet. Jed continued the inventory of the parts he presently couldn’t see, the thick, long, cut cock, the light sandy hair from which it would spring, lusting after him, the trail up the flat belly, the pink nipples, the thin line of freckles below his collarbones, the permanent stubble, the large, slightly turned down steel grey eyes, the tall forehead and the lush baby-fine blond hair that cascaded down his back. Jed sighed, his lover was truly beautiful.

It was mindful of this that he lifted Sammy’s head from his chest and looked deep into his eyes. “So, you want to make us permanent?”, he whispered. Sammy held his breath, widened his eyes and nodded once. “So, we don’t mess around and promise fidelity to each other for the rest of our lives?”, Jed continued. Sammy nodded again, a look of fear crossing his face before he saw the look in his lover’s eyes and tried to relax.

Jed was truly amazed that his gorgeous golden lover would choose someone like him for a permanent partner but when he thought about it rationally, he had already done so and for many years. Jed felt a wall in his heart crumble as his eyes filled, his gaze still locked on Sammy’s.

“Then, yes. Yes, I will marry you”, he whispered, “And be honoured and proud to do so”, then felt his eyes overflow and then he was crushed to a more powerful chest than his own, the breath squeezed from him, “You really mean that?” Sammy’s voice almost squeaked in his ear. Jed was beyond doing anything but nodding vehemently as he was gathered close and held tight. Sammy had light pouring from his eyes as well as tears as he held his love, no, his fiance, close. He closed his eyes and saw Harry exhorting him to ‘just ask, the worst you can be told is ‘no’’, or words to that effect and here he was, lit up from inside with the pure force of love. Right then, he felt he could glow in the dark as he held his overcome beloved to him.

They didn’t venture out that night, they munched on stocks of sweeties and biscuits that they had lying about, along with most of a bottle of water and a couple of bruised apples. As an engagement dinner, it wasn’t much, but to the two of them, it was nectar and ambrosia all rolled into one as they fed each other before eating another quarter of flapjack each and making love far into the night.