By the time we left the park, it was around two in the afternoon. We went straight to Liam's apartment. I was in pajamas and Liam wore a soft white shirt and pajama bottoms. A part of me was a bit disappointed. I knew for a fact that Liam generally only wore boxers to bed. So, he seemed to think that the pajama pants and the shirt were an added layer of safety.

He couldn't be more wrong.

"I'm afraid to ask what you're thinking."

The words drew me out of my devious brainstorming long enough to glance over at him. "Hmm?"

Liam took a deep breath before he responded. "What are you thinking about?" He asked hesitantly.

"How to get into your pants," I replied frankly.

"I thought we agreed to wait until the tests come back," Liam reasoned. The two of us had gotten tested some weeks prior, and we wouldn't have the results of the final set for another month or so.

I scowled at him. "Let me rephrase that," I countered. "I'm thinking about carefully molesting the hell out of you until I see you cum again."

"Why does it feel like groping's similar to a gateway drug for you?" Liam replied with a laugh.

"Because it's closer to the truth than I care to admit," I agreed. "It's just been such a long time, and you were so amazing that last time…if I promise not to go too far or do anything stupid, would it be ok?"

"A part of me wonders what you were like in your college years," the brown-eyed man admitted. "Another part of me wants to remain in blissful ignorance about your past experiences."

"Oh, I was a bit of a nymph," I responded shamelessly. "But, I'm always faithful to the person I'm with." A slight frown formed on my face as a flickering thought of Kris crossed my mind. "The same couldn't be said about some of my past partners."

Liam tugged me closer against him and pressed a kiss to my temple. "I feel the same way you do," he said. "A relationship built on lies and deceit isn't healthy."

I nodded solemnly before breaking the mood. "That's why I'm warning you up front," I replied. "You might have to sleep with one eye open tonight. My hands have a mind of their own sometimes."

The sigh of defeat that followed that statement made me laugh.

:::

I could quite literally see the blinds of my parents' house held open by fingers as we pulled up to the garage. I assumed it was my mother, sister, and middle brother. When Liam and I approached the door, I heard the stomping of several feet and wondered if my siblings were fighting over who got to open the door first. Liam's finger froze halfway into reaching for the doorbell when it swung open, and my grey-eyed sister stood in its place.

"Welcome home!" Cara greeted as she launched herself into my arms.

I hugged her just as tightly as she hugged me. "I'll make proper introductions when we get inside," I urged as the three of us walked in. "Everyone, this is Liam. Liam, this is my sister Cara," I continued as I motioned towards the brunette. "My middle brother, Antoine, my parents, and you already know Michael."

Cara ignored the hand Liam offered and gave him a quick hug. "Welcome to the family," she whispered, though the sound carried to their ears.

Antoine gave Liam a normal-looking handshake. He had the fairest skin out of all the siblings, which made his blue eyes and brown hair stand out in contrast. But, he was also the shortest.

My parents also gave Liam a handshake. My father's had dark brown hair and grey eyes, and my mother had medium brown hair and blue eyes.

"Pleasure to meet you," Liam concluded his greeting from person to person. He turned towards my dad. "I wanted to take the opportunity to ask for your permission to date your son."

Michael broke the tense silence that immediately followed by laughing. "See? Told you guys he was nothing like Kris," he commented. "Total romantic, too. You'll see what I mean."

"Mike!" I hissed in warning.

"What? They're gonna love him!" Michael defended.

In spite of my concerns, there weren't many awkward moments, if at all, during the dinner with my family. Liam sat across from me with Antoine on his left and Michael on his right, who helped him keep the conversation going. Overall, it had been quite nice.

As I hugged my family members goodbye later that night, I saved Michael for last. 

"It's good to see you so happy," he whispered into my ear as he gave me a tight hug.

I mouthed the words 'thank you' to him before Liam, and I made our way back to the car.

"So, what did you and my father talk about after dinner?" I asked as we drove back to our house. Our house…it was amazing how easily it was to regard it as such after only a few months.

"The usual," Liam responded with a half-smirk. "Not to break his favorite son's heart."

"My dad doesn't play favorites," I argued.

"As far as you know, he doesn't," the other man pointed out.

As I glanced out the window, I thought of the week ahead.

"Are you going to allow me to congratulate you on your promotion?" I taunted. 

"No," Liam responded. "I don't want our first time together to be attached to any specific event."

"How much longer are you going to make me wait, Liam?" I whispered.

A smirk formed on the auburn-haired man's face. "About ten more minutes."

I glanced over at him, confused. Hadn't he just said he didn't want our first time to correlate with an event?

"We are going to make love for the sake of exploring one another further," Liam elaborated, his voice falling a sultry octave. "Not because of some promotion."

I tried not to squirm or adjust myself. "Well, I'm not sorry for anything I've done in the meantime," I stated.

"If you can't walk properly at work Monday morning," Liam replied. "It's because you've brought it upon yourself."

I couldn't help the devious grin that formed on my face. "If I can't walk properly Monday morning, I'm calling out. And you can be the one to explain why to Kathryn all by yourself," I countered.

"Now that's just cruel," the redhead responded through a grin of his own.

When we finally arrived back home, it took me longer than usual to get the damn door open. I was lit up inside with pure excitement and anticipation. The relief I felt to know that Liam had been just as anxious as I was the entire time…the feeling was indescribable. We were on the same page. We both wanted this.

I had barely locked the door before I was pinned against it. My arms wrapped around Liam's shoulders as I tried my best to keep from humping his leg like the depraved man I was. No words were spoken between us. The sounds of our frantic make-out session echoed in the hallway as we made our way to the bedroom.

The suction of lips against lips, the thumping of limbs against walls, and the thud of shoes being kicked off were the sounds that followed us as we stumbled through the door. I don't know how we made it onto the bed naked, but when I felt Liam's leg slide between mine and the warmth of his body above, I realized that we were finally there.

My hands slid up and down Liam's back as he leaned back down for another heady kiss. I spread my legs wide to accommodate him and bent enough so that one of my hands was able to squeeze one of his incredibly round mounds.

I felt him against me as he gently rocked forward and backward. He then made his way lower. The redhead continued to dip down and back as if it were a small taste of what he really wanted to do to me.

His mouth nipped at my chest, the tongue swiping at one of my nipples as he continued to grind against me. I was so hard. My legs were curled over his thighs and my fingers raked roughly into wavy auburn locks.

I felt more than saw Liam kissing his way down my body, effortlessly dropping my legs back down in the process. I felt slick fingers against my entrance and briefly wondered when he had coated them in lube. I squirmed and bucked when those long fingers made their way inside me.

"Liam!" I gasped in both surprise and pleasure. His honey-hued eyes were full of fire as they raked over my body and then locked on my own.

In what felt like no time at all, Liam was sliding inside. The heat and stretch were quite wonderful. But, the rolling moan that fell from his lips was even better.

"S-Seth," he hissed as he began to rock inside me.

My arms once again slid over his shoulder and arms. Liam caught one of my hands and used it to pin my arm down beside my face as he began to thrust faster. He then reached down and behind to lift my left leg up, causing me to bend and curl my other leg tighter around him.

The rhythm of his movements picked up another notch, and I cried out as the pleasure began to build inside. He only slowed down to grab the back of my neck with his free hand and used the hold as leverage to slam inside harder.

"Yes!" I gasped, drawing in a loud breath of air. "Fuck yes!"

My name once again fell from his panting lips as one of my hands raked a path down Liam's back. Somewhere down the line, I took hold myself and pumped erratically. 

"Liam…" I whimpered just as I fell over the edge. Mere moments later, I felt the more than heard the redhead doing the same. 

His ragged breath blew softly against my ear as he shifted onto his elbow to keep from crushing me with his weight. I pressed soft kisses to his shoulder, which was the nearest stretch of skin I could reach.

"Liam?"

"You ok, Seth?" Came the concerned question.

"I'm infinitely better than just 'ok,' you know," I responded with a snicker. "I'm actually a little mind-blown at the moment."

Liam lifted his head to look at my face. He had a wide, salacious smile and looked to be quite satisfied. "That's funny," he replied and paused to press a soft kiss on my lips. "I feel the same."

My eyes fell on a cloth draped across the headboard of the bed. "Heh," I scoffed. "Looks like yet another one of my pants ended up ripped at the seam." I mused aloud as I motioned towards it.

The auburn-haired man grinned. "Do you want to borrow my leather pants again?" He suggested.

"No," I responded. "I'd much rather remain naked for our next round."

I would never tire of the sound of Liam's voice chuckling.

::

"I can't believe you're already graduating," I sighed as I reached out to gently tug at my youngest brother's hair.

"Hey," Michael huffed playfully as he raked his jet-black hair back. The locks had grown long, and he recently had it cut to his chin with the lower half shaved so that he could pull the top half back into a small ponytail. "Why do you sound so surprised? I'm not that dumb."

"You're not dumb at all, Mike," I responded as I placed my hands on my hips. "I taught you better than that. I did teach you how to read, after all."

A wide grin formed on the younger man's face. "And if I didn't find fun things around to read, like your journal, I'd have gotten bored of it long ago," he confessed.

"Don't make me beat you up before your graduation," I grumbled in complaint.

"I kid, I kid," Mike replied. "Though I admit that the content in your journal was tons more interesting than Cara or Ant's."

"I didn't know Antoine had a journal!" I blurted out loud.

"Pssh, it was so dry," Michael elaborated. "Like his Instagram posts."

The two of us locked gazes, and that was all it took to burst out into laughing. When we were no longer taking in shaky breaths of air, I reached out to gently shove his shoulder. "So, what would you like for a graduation gift?" I prompted.

A mischievous glint formed in Mike's hazel eyes. His were the most unique in the family, grey and brown with a touch of saffron in a ring around the pupil. As lovely as they were, they spelled out doom for me whenever my brother had something devious in mind.

"You'll see, big bro," he admitted.

But, the words didn't bring me any comfort at all.

::

The whole family looked sharp and elegant for Michael's graduation day. Even Liam looked like he could have stepped right out of a men's fashion catalog. When his name was called, Michael walked across the stage shaking the hands of everyone there. Just before walking off the stage, he sent us a smug expression and a salute before heading out back to find his certificate amongst his peers.

When we caught up with him, he was giving his best friend Vivi a congratulatory hug and wishing some of their other classmates well. Some of those classmates along with Vivi herself would be joining us later that night for a reception party. We took so many pictures and video clips that the batteries on Cara's camera died.

After the sun set, we were all in slightly more casual attire. We ate, drank, and danced. Extended family members were there, as well as friends and neighbors that had seen Michael growing up. My siblings, Liam, and I led every single group dance that the DJ played for us, urging the crowd to join us. Overall, it was a fantastic day full of bittersweet memories (especially when all siblings started remembering moments of our youth and the hilarious trouble Michael always caused throughout the years) and pure joy. I didn't think I could feel any happier.

I was wrong.

Before the night was over, as everyone began to settle down after much dancing, Michael borrowed the microphone from the DJ and commanded everyone's attention.

"Family and friends!" Michael began as he waved an arm up in the air. When the chatter died down, he continued. "First of all, I want to thank all of you for joining us in this graduation celebration. I want to congratulate the fellow graduates that are here; we made it guys!" He then scanned the crowd.

"There's someone here that has a special graduation gift for me," Mike revealed. "So, I'm going to hand this right over to him."

My eyes widened when I saw Liam stand up beside me and headed over to the offered microphone. "Hello everyone, my name is Liam Lux. Most of you recognize me as Seth's partner, as I've had the pleasure to meet most of you throughout the last few years…" I was confused when those brown eyes focused on me.

"Michael's older brother once joked about a particular deadline," he said as he walked towards me. "But, I'm here to say that I'm dead serious…" My throat closed right up when Michael rushed over to take the microphone, and Liam knelt before me and held out a small jewelry box.

A part of me hoped it was a joke and something else was in that box…a key, a card, some other kind of jewelry. But when he opened it, the diamond-studded band downright glinted beneath the lights. I swallowed hard.

I don't know how I managed to drown out the wild cheering that erupted in the room, but the noise around me finally registered when I felt Liam slide the ring onto my left ring finger. The coldness of the platinum band was quickly eliminated by the heat that every inch of my skin emitted. I gasped when Liam pulled me out of my chair and into a tight hug.

"Slater or Lux?" he asked in a whisper right beside my ear.

I didn't respond with words. I merely pulled him into a kiss. From that night onward, my journal was signed Seth Lux.

:::::

END

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a/n: What did you think of this story? Let me know in the comments!