Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
Nico didn’t understand how people cooked before technology.
His tablet was propped up against the backsplash with one recipe on it while his phone sat on the counter with another recipe.
Nico did the best with what came with the rented condo, but the advertising stating a fully-stocked kitchen was what he considered to be a fib.
By the time he was done cooking, he was a sweating mess.
He slid his plate of shrimp scampi onto the table in front of his open laptop, sat down in front of it, and smiled. The diamond necklace Cooper had bought him for Christmas sparkled from the light of the candle beside the computer.
On the screen, Cooper smiled back. “Are you finally done?”
“I told you, I’m not a chef. I can barely put together scrambled eggs and a breakfast patty.”
Cooper stabbed his fork into his plate of scampi, and Nico couldn’t help but notice how much better Cooper’s plate looked. The food was neatly piled atop one another and centered perfectly in the middle. Nico’s noodles piled off the edge of the plate and burnt shrimp lay in a pile on top.
“Should we pray before we eat?” Nico joked as he poured a glass of what was supposed to be dry red wine, but was actually grape juice because he hated dry wine.
But Cooper was already stuffing a bite into his mouth. He chewed quickly, swallowed, and reminded Nico, “It’s midnight and I’m well past the point of being hungry.”
“The sun just went down here.” Nico swirled his fork in the overcooked noodles. Suddenly, he didn’t have much of an appetite. “I can’t believe you abandoned me to spend two months in Europe.”
“I needed to get away. You know I don’t like losing.”
Nico hated losing too, but he didn’t run all the way to the other side of the globe when the Cobras knocked the Knights out of playoff contention.
“If it matters at all, you would have won that game if the refs weren’t blind.
They literally handed the Oilers the win when they glanced over Damon’s ball that clearly grazed the ground. ”
Cooper lowered his fork and stared. “You’re not helping.”
“Sorry,” Nico corrected himself. “You deserved to lose and should play better next year.”
“Tell me, Rook. Is this what you do?” Cooper folded his hands together as if he was about to pray. “You play the part of the good boy to get what you want, and then when you rope the sucker in, you suddenly think to yourself, that’s enough good boy shit.”
Nico pointed ahead. “That look on your face is priceless. If you were here, you could punish me but you’re off frolicking with your fiancée in the City of Love.”
Cooper pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled sharply behind closed eyes. “We talked about this.”
That they had, and Nico understood the who, what, why, when, and how of it all.
Didn’t mean it didn’t bother him, though.
It was a casualty of living in the closet and being in a secret relationship-esque thingy with another closeted player.
Cooper’s engagement checked all the boxes but every checked box cut away at Nico’s heart.
“I just don’t get why you didn’t tell your mother to fuck off.”
Cooper furrowed a brow. “Would you ever say those words to your father?”
“No,” Nico admitted. “But my father also isn’t a psychotic power-hungry she-hulk.”
Cooper nodded. “Are you done?”
Nico nodded back and took another bite of his noodles—making sure to avoid the shrimp that was so burnt, he was sure a dog wouldn’t eat it.
The noodles were chewy, overseasoned, and somehow…
watery? He forced himself to swallow and dreaded the next bite.
To be polite, he’d at least eat a little bit.
After their long-distance date was over, he figured he’d order some real food.
This was supposed to be a nice dinner. Their very first ever Valentine’s Day date, but Nico couldn’t stop putting his foot in his mouth.
He looked past his computer at the teddy bear that sat on the other side of the table.
Cooper had shipped it to him a week prior.
It was one of those toys that had a beating heart in it and was supposed to keep you warm.
It was a kind gesture, but what the fuck was Nico going to do with a stuffed animal?
At least Nico had gotten something practical for Cooper… A selfie of his hole with a heart drawn around it.
Quiet settled in between the two men as Cooper plowed through his plate of food. Must have been bulking season. Nico envied every bite of Cooper’s food and hoped someday the other man would cook it for him so he could know what the recipe was actually supposed to taste like.
“So, I know you lie and say you like reading,” Cooper said. “Tell me, what is your favorite book?”
“Firstly, it’s not a lie. Secondly, Catcher in the Rye.”
“A book from school curricula?” Cooper raised a glass of red wine to his lips, amused. “Are you sure you like reading? You’re not just trying to be cool?”
“I used to hate it, but that book changed me and now I love reading. It’s a good escape. Reading, that is. Not much escapism in that particular book.”
Cooper lowered his glass and leaned forward. “Tell me your favorite book that’s not boring.”
Nico was rather fond of Divergent, but only the first book. The sequels flushed him with embarrassment. “Divergent.”
“What the fuck is that?”
Figures Cooper didn’t know, which was probably for the best.
“It’s like Star Wars, but with teenagers,” Nico attempted to make it sound cooler than it was.
“On Earth. A little bit of a dystopian rip-off of the wizard that cannot be named where everyone is kind of born into a house. The government is evil, as tends to be the case. It’s not high art by any means. They made a movie adaptation.”
Cooper pondered this information quietly. “Want to watch it?”
Nico sat up on the couch with his computer placed on the coffee table in front of him. Over on the other side of the world, Cooper lay on a couch somewhere in Paris, holding his arms across his chest.
Cooper looked at the camera. “It’s been bugging me this entire time, but I just figured out how I know this chick. She was engaged to Aaron Rodgers.”
Nico couldn’t hide the smile on his face. “Please take notes on how to end an engagement from her then.”
“Did he end it, or did she?”
“I don’t stick my nose in things that aren’t my business.”
“Bullshit,” Cooper scoffed.
Nico met Cooper’s gaze on the screen. “Can you please just focus on the movie?”
Cooper motioned with his fingers over his lips, gesturing that he was shutting up.
In the movie, the main character and her soon-to-be boo thang zip-lined through the broken remnants of a dying metropolis. A moment of freedom in a world centered on control. This was one of Nico’s two favorite parts of the book.
“Take off your shirt,” Cooper said, breaking Nico’s focus.
Nico shushed him. “It’s getting to the good part.”
“I thought you liked being told what to do?”
Nico rolled his eyes but did as he was told, pulling his shirt over his head. His gaze went straight back to the TV.
“Rub your nipples for me,” Cooper demanded.
Nico shook his head with a light chuckle, but lowered a hand to his chest. He flicked his finger over his right nipple and then circled it.
“Go get your fucking toy. I want to see what I look like inside you.”
Nico shot Cooper a glare. “What about Stassi?”
“She’s staying the night with a friend.”
Nico’s curiosity was piqued, but he knew better than to inquire about what Cooper’s definition of a friend meant in this context. “I’ll be right back.”
Nico stood up slowly and waited until he was out of frame before hurrying to the bedroom of the condo.
He threw open his suitcase and dug through a pile of clothing before finding Lil Cooper tucked away in a rolled-up beach towel.
When he was going through airport security, he carried more than a heavy carry-on.
He carried shame and a serious case of nausea hoping his bag wasn’t picked for inspection.
When Nico had flown home that week before Christmas, he found Cooper’s package waiting on his doorstep.
He did not wait until Christmas to open his presents, but Cooper would never know this.
That night, he threw his three favorite men—his collection of dildos—into the trash.
He had a new favorite man and it was shaped exactly like Cooper’s dick.
A homemade Christmas gift molded from the only dick he’d ever tasted.
On his way out of the bedroom, he grabbed a bottle of lube sitting on the nightstand.
Nico settled back onto the couch just in time to watch Cooper sit up and pull his sweater over his head.
“Take off your pants,” Cooper said as he did the same, unbuttoning his trousers and pushing them down his legs, revealing a pair of form-fitting black boxer briefs.
Nico stood back up, disposed of his pants, and sat back down in white briefs.
Cooper adjusted his computer to give Nico the best possible view, with Cooper centered in the frame with everything below his knees showing. “Touch yourself.”
Nico, as always, loved being told what to do. He palmed his growing erection through his underwear. Finally, he had an audience for his one-man show. He locked eyes with a mesmerized Cooper and held the head of his cock through the fabric.
Cooper reached into his underwear and stroked himself. Above the waist, he chewed into his bottom lip.
Nico slid his white briefs down his legs, letting them pool on the tiled floor as his erection sprang free, slapping his belly button. He palmed his hand over the head, smearing precum over it and using it as lube to begin stroking.
“Yeah,” Cooper said, breath ragged. “Show me your hole.”
Nico propped his feet up on the coffee table and angled his body forward. Though it was relatively dark in the small living room, there was enough light from the TV for his hole to be visible on the computer screen.
“Fuckkk,” Cooper moaned. “Spit on your fingers and rub it for me.”
Between his parted legs, Nico raised two fingers to his mouth and dragged his tongue over them. He reached down and tapped his hole and then circled around the rim. His mouth dropped slightly open as he pushed his way inside.
“I’m so fucking jealous,” Cooper said, rubbing a hand over his chest while he continued to stroke his cock underneath his underwear.
“Yeah?” Nico moaned, inching further inside but not too far. After all, he wasn’t a fan of fingers.
Cooper’s eyes squinted. His lips trembled. “I fucking miss you.”
Nico’s eyes tore open. “Miss me or miss my ass?”
Cooper met him halfway, all the way across the world and yet it was like they were sitting right in front of each other. “Both.”
“But you’re here, right beside me.” Nico grabbed Lil Cooper and waved it in front of the camera. “You want to fuck me, Coach?”
Cooper nodded, breathless.
And so Nico prepped the dildo, painting it with a generous portion of lube and giving it a few strokes. While Nico was getting ready for the big show, Cooper wiggled out of his underwear and took the weight of his cock into his hand, stroking it slowly as his eyes remained fixed on the screen.
Nico lowered Lil Cooper to his hole, lined it up, and inhaled sharply as he pushed forward.
It was a familiar feeling of a particularly familiar thing.
The same width as Cooper’s actual cock, and the sting as it squeezed through the sphincter was more than welcome.
The toy eased into him like a puzzle piece that just fit.
It wasn’t as warm as Cooper’s cock.
It didn’t throb like Cooper’s cock.
And it wouldn’t spend itself inside, flooding him with Cooper’s cum.
But in the lonely stretches of time when Cooper was gone, it was the closest thing he had to feel as if he was right there. And Cooper… was always fucking gone.
Nico filled himself to the base of the dildo and held himself there. He watched Cooper, waiting for the sign to go. Nico began to stroke his own cock with his free hand as he continued to wait.
Cooper nodded and that was Nico’s cue. He tugged at the dildo, inching it backwards and then forward again.
Cooper’s stroking matched Nico’s thrusting. The faster Nico went, the faster Cooper stroked. The harder the dildo rammed Nico’s prostate, the harder Cooper’s fist echoed against his pelvis.
“Fuckkkk,” Cooper cried out, sinking backwards into the couch. “I’m going to come.”
Nico’s lips curled and his cheeks flushed when he saw himself approaching his own release on the laptop. He pumped his cock to the same tempo as he fucked himself.
“Fuck, baby!” Cooper held himself firm at the base of his cock as he sputtered forward, shots of cum landing on the computer first and then the camera, coating Nico’s screen in clouds of whiteness that were hard to see through.
Nico broke too, shooting ropes of hot cum on his stomach.
As Nico came down from the high, the dildo still lodged in his ass, Cooper wiped the jizz from his camera, clearing the view for Nico.
“Eat your come for me,” Cooper said, his face pressed up against the camera. “Please.”
Nico’s chuckle lodged in the back of his throat. “Only if you call me baby again.”
Cooper’s eyes turned sideways.
Nico reckoned it must’ve been a lost-in-the-moment kind of thing and so he didn’t push the issue. Instead, he did as he was told.
He thumbed over the mess on his stomach, collected a glob of his own jizz, and sucked it clean with his mouth.
It didn’t matter that Cooper seemingly didn’t remember saying it. The point was that he said it at all. Nico realized in that moment that all he’d ever wanted was to be called baby.
And he’d be the absolute fucking bestest good boy in the world if he ever heard it again.