Chapter 24 - Valentine’s Dinner
Callum stayed on the Sunday, as he had no other plans, and Julian loved the fact he’d seen him late Friday night, through Saturday and Sunday; a perfect weekend.
They fell into a happy routine over the next two weeks, with training sessions on Tuesdays at the apartment, where Callum stayed over, Julian drove him to boot camp the next morning.
Another session on Thursdays at the office so Callum could go straight from there to The Vault.
They were doing okay on the whole restraint thing but did lapse after one particularly heavy session when desires couldn’t be denied and they reverted to the private suite, unable to stop themselves.
There were no further issues at The Vault.
They discussed and agreed that one of Julian’s guys could be there when Callum was working, to keep an eye on things.
They went through formal interviews with Callum selected his own guy from Markus’s team.
In the end, he picked Liam from Detroit, who he felt he had banter with immediately.
He was only a few years older than Callum and was pretty built himself.
They travelled together, got talking and built a friendship, which eased any awkwardness within the situation.
When Callum was working, Liam kept out of his way as best he could, but they spoke when they bumped into each other, and at one point Liam got very glittery after a special Lady Gaga-themed evening.
Liam was quite handsome and spent much of his time fending off the advances of gay men, much to Callum’s amusement.
Their weekends were spent together, and they fell into a happily coupled state.
Callum cooked for them both in the apartment.
In turn, Callum made Julian cook for them too.
They enjoyed swimming in the pool and fully retracted the roof one sunny day and just lounged in the unusually warm February they were having.
Valentine’s Day was approaching. A milestone for any couple, especially a new one.
They had discussed it and planned a nice dinner at home.
They considered going out, but if Julian got recognised, things could get awkward; it just wasn’t worth the hassle.
They could be so much more relaxed and happier at home.
They decided to buy each other a card and a single gift, agreeing that this now needed some planning on both sides.
Callum played along with this, but he already knew his gift for Julian. With his love of all things Marvel, superheroes, and his press nickname, ‘The Titan of Industry’, all roads led to Thanos, the big blue villain from the Avengers movies.
Callum had done some Googling and found that a company called Hot Toys sold a large Infinity Gauntlet collector's sculpture. The gauntlet was the glove Thanos created with the five powerful Infinity Stones in it, which he used to destroy half the life in the universe in Avengers: Infinity War. Callum knew this was one of Julian’s favourite films. The collectible gauntlet was a large metallic-looking glove, with the five different-coloured jewels in it that lit up when you pressed a hidden button, presented on a nice display stand.
It cost $1,500 which to Callum was a lot of money, but he knew it would be worth it to see the smile on Julian’s face when he opened it.
He’d done well at the club recently; he could just about afford it, so he ordered it.
In complete contrast, Julian struggled with what to buy for Callum. His thought processes were quite different. His original idea was that he would just give him a cheque for one billion dollars.
His logic here was that it would change Callum’s life and he’d never have to worry about money ever again. All his concerns around the gym would be sorted; he and Jack could either fix up The Iron Works, move somewhere else, whatever. With money, you can do pretty much anything.
But after his initial idea, over the next few days he considered who Callum was as a person and how he’d react to a gift like that.
Huge as it would be to Callum, it was pretty insignificant to Julian.
Whilst it was a lot, it didn’t have any real meaning.
What if it was just one million dollars, maybe?
Less money, still significant, but enough to change a life?
He didn’t want to change Callum’s life; that wasn’t what this was about.
So, a cash gift was ruled out. It had to be something with real meaning.
Julian was in trouble. It was now just two days before Valentine’s Day, and he didn’t have anything organised. Sitting in his office pondering this, he buzzed for Kerry.
“Julian, what can I do for you?”
“Kerry, my dear, how would you like to go on a shopping trip with me?”
Her face was a picture. “Uh, OK” was all she could muster… This was new territory.
“Where’s good for shopping around here?”
“Oh, Julian, it has to be Fifth Avenue,” was her instant response.
“Then let’s go!” he replied, keen to solve his issue.
***
Friday 14th February 25
They were both working on the day itself, which was a Friday, so Callum met Julian at his office at 5 p.m., and they travelled back to the penthouse together.
Julian was intrigued by the size of Callum’s gift when he saw it.
The box was massive, wrapped in red heart-patterned paper, with a huge red satin bow.
Callum could barely carry it. Immediately, Julian questioned his own smaller gift to Callum, wondering if he’d made the right decision or not.
In the car, Julian was hyper with excitement and Callum just laughed at him as they held hands in the back seat.
At the penthouse, Martha had excelled herself.
The dining table was properly set with a white cloth, and a black silk table runner with embroidered red hearts.
She’d put red floating candles in shallow glass bowls with red rose petals, alongside a huge, red-themed floral table centre.
There were helium balloons at either end, with more dotted around the penthouse.
She’d even changed the lighting to red: something Callum hadn’t even worked out how to do.
Callum hauled his present over to the low unit by the window, which still featured his small, framed photo gift, but sitting alongside it was Julian’s gift to him in a box.
Yes, smaller than Callum’s, but still a decent size, neatly wrapped in metallic red paper, and carefully placed in front of it was a card.
Callum made great play of putting his box alongside this, with his card propped up in front in the same way.
They both took a picture of this, finding it comical, making memories.
They went to get changed and ended up on the bed for some ‘them’ time, creating memories of a different nature. After this, they decided to go for a quick swim, then showered and got changed for dinner.
Callum’s stake in Julian’s dressing room had grown.
He now had some drawers on the left-hand side, some wardrobe hanging space, where a collection of his clothes hung, and most importantly, shoe racks for a selection of his sneakers.
He’d gradually been leaving things there after each visit, which caused him a few issues when trying to find a specific pair of jeans, or that new mustard jumper.
Is it at Julian’s or at home? But he just lived with it.
Fortunately, he had enough sportswear that he could easily distribute it evenly between both, and he also just wore Julian’s if needed, rather liking the feeling that they had been tight to his body, sea kelp scent faintly lingering.
They showered and dressed nicely, Callum in his favourite skinny black jeans, with a black polo shirt that had a red stripe around the neck and arms. It was very fitted, and he liked the way it made his arms look massive.
Julian picked simple blue jeans and a white long-sleeved shirt, sleeves rolled up and the top three buttons open wide.
“Mmm, you know I love it when you do that,” Callum said, his hand reaching into the open top, gliding over his manly chest and fuzzy pecs.
“And that’s exactly why I do it,” Julian replied, smiling tenderly.
They kissed. Julian’s hands were on Callum’s waist, and they shared a nice moment, looking into each other’s eyes.
They kissed again, then headed for dinner at 7:30 p.m. as arranged with Martha.
She had tall, modern crystal glasses with a fresh strawberry in the bottom of each, and was pouring chilled champagne for them as they walked through the door.
The red lighting had been reduced to low throughout the penthouse, nice music in the background, all creating a lovely, relaxed mood for dinner.
Callum had wondered if it would be odd, her being there, but in honesty she loved both of them, and they felt completely comfortable around her. Plus, he was sure she would disappear as soon as the main meal was served anyway.
They took their drinks down to the sofa, where after a Happy Valentine’s toast, chink of glasses, and a happy kiss, they decided to open cards and presents, whilst Martha finished preparing dinner.
Julian was so excited that Callum said he could open his card first. Callum had found him a nice simple one, made by a local crafter who sold their makes in Chelsea Market.
He and Sophia had visited the previous Tuesday on his day off, and as soon as he’d spied the card, he knew it was the one.
The base was simple brown cardboard, but it was embossed with a repeating heart pattern.
There was a thin red frame around it, and the central focus was a clear glass heart, with red and gold slivers of colour running through it like marbling.
It was simple, but something about it caught Callum’s eye.
Julian carefully opened the brown envelope. As soon as he took the card out, he was intrigued by the heart. “Is this real glass?” he asked.
“Yes,” Callum replied. “I just saw it and loved it.”