Building a Forever Home An Edison and Max Short Story
Edison strolled out of the bathroom and into the master bedroom wearing only a pair of loose shorts.
He rubbed a towel across his damp hair and looked up to find his adorable lover seated on the bed with his laptop.
As soon as Ed appeared, Max slapped the laptop shut.
His expression was way too innocent, bringing a wicked grin to Ed’s lips.
He tossed the towel into the hamper as he ambled to the bed.
“Whatcha looking at?” Ed teased.
“Nothing important. Work.”
Ed threw himself next to Max on the bed so that he landed sideways, causing Max to bounce and grab at his laptop to keep it from tumbling to the floor. “Really? Work? Last I checked, work doesn’t make you blush like a virgin when I catch you looking at it.”
That only made Max’s face turn an even brighter shade of red.
“What? You think I was looking at porn!”
Ed only had to stare at him. No words needed.
Max made more gasping and scoffing noises, but he wasn’t opening his laptop. “You’re insane.”
“Show me.”
“No!”
Ed leaned in close, pressing his face into Max’s neck, nuzzling his man until he made some adorable noises. “Show me. I wanna see what’s got you so worked up. It’ll be fun.”
“Holy fuck, you’re going to be so disappointed.”
“It won’t. I promise.” He kissed the soft spot behind Max’s ear and then turned his attention to the laptop as he felt Max lift the screen.
He was not disappointed.
But he was very, very confused.
Max hadn’t been looking at porn. Unless he was the type of person who was into real estate porn.
The picture of a single-story redbrick house with dark shutters and a neatly trimmed lawn filled the computer. It was listed as a three-bedroom, two-bath house with a fenced-in yard.
Max had never mentioned buying a house, settling down, or any of that.
They were living a wild and free life, traveling here and there.
They’d go on adventures with Charlie and Kairo, lounge around in Izzie’s many homes across Greece, take part in digs throughout Egypt when Max was invited to join in, or Max would sometimes teach classes in Gaoxing.
Ed’s shock deepened when he glanced at the top of the display to note where the house was located. It was a suburb of Chapel Hill, which wasn’t far from where his family lived.
“See! I told you it wasn’t anything exciting.” Max laid his hand on the top of the computer and started to close it again, but Ed stopped him.
“Wait. I’m confused. Were you just looking?” He paused and narrowed his gaze at Max. “Was my mama getting in your ear? If she’s pressuring you—”
Ed’s words died off at Max’s wild cackle. He finished with a sigh and dropped onto the mound of white pillows at his back. “I guess this is a good time to come clean. Ed…I’m getting old.”
A groan of disgust escaped Ed as he scooted up the bed to lie against the pillows next to Max, smirking at the man. “You just turned thirty-five a month ago. You’re not old.”
“Yeah, but my bones ache now when I’m crawling out of crypts. I’m getting old.”
“Uh-huh. I’m older than you.”
“Yeah, and you’re getting old too. I saw a gray hair.”
“What? You did not! Where?”
Max grinned broadly and winked. “Spotted it when I was going down on you last time.”
Ed choked on a laugh. Okay. That was a possibility, but he highly doubted it. He could still pass for twenties. Late twenties, but it still counted. He smoothed out his expression and tried again. “What’s going on?”
“Well, I’m getting older and I thought maybe it might be nice to slow down a little.
Just a little! But I was talking to a colleague of mine who teaches at UNC-Chapel Hill, and she was telling me how they wanted to expand their graduate archeology department to include more offerings for students interested in Egyptian history.
Don’t get me wrong—their classics department is on point for Ancient Greek and Roman—but they don’t have the same depth for Egyptologists. ”
Ed sat up so that he could see Max’s face more clearly. “They offered you a job?”
Max snorted. “More like begged. I mean, come on. There aren’t a lot of Egyptologists out there who’ve had more successful digs than me.
Plus, I have impressive teaching credentials.
I’ve taught on practically every continent by now.
But…if I took the job, I would have to agree to at least a five-year contract.
Obviously, we’d still be able to travel and get into trouble, but we’d have to work it around my teaching schedule.
Then I figured if I took this job for five years, we might as well buy a house.
It doesn’t make sense to rent for that long.
” He paused and tangled his fingers together, wincing slightly.
“I might have told your mom about what I was thinking, so she’s been helping me to locate homes in good neighborhoods. ”
Ed grinned. He could just imagine his mother’s excitement. He wouldn’t be surprised if she’d sent Max homes that were only minutes from where she and his dad lived.
Excitement was building in his chest to the point of exploding, but Ed tamped it down hard. This was amazing, but he was afraid of frightening Max away from this path.
“You’re disappointed,” Max stated, his shoulders slumping.
“No!”
“You’re sure? Because I haven’t told the university ‘yes’ yet. I said I needed time to think about it and talk to you.”
“No, I…I honestly think this is amazing. I’m just shocked and confused. I thought you enjoyed all the traveling and never settling down in one place for too long.”
Max shrugged a shoulder and shoved a hand through his messy brown hair. “I did. I do still, but I feel myself getting…tired of hotels and temporary housing. Did you know that I’ve never actually bought a piece of furniture for a house? Or dishes?”
“That’s crazy.” Ed had to admit, though, that he’d not done too much of that in his life either. Most places he’d been living in were furnished rentals.
“We’ve been watching all our friends getting settled. Westin is popping out kids left and right. Kairo and Izzie are going to have kids any day now to fill all of Izzie’s houses. Even Charlie and Will have a cat.”
“Oscar is a pretty cool cat.” Ed cocked his head to the side and smirked. “Is this your way of proposing and saying you want kids?”
“Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa! You can just slow your roll right there.” Max held up both hands toward Ed as if trying to ward him off. “I love you, babe, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be a kids kind of guy. I’m thinking right now we try a house. Maybe, maybe…a dog. Or a really chill cat.”
“I could be down for that.”
“The bonus would be that we’d be near your family.” Max dropped his hands and became serious. “Your parents are getting up there. Your mom is in her sixties now, and it would be a good idea for us to be close.”
“Is that what started this? Baby, I have several older brothers and sisters who are close, and they can take care of my parents.”
“It’s part of it. You’ve spent the past couple of decades constantly traveling. Don’t you want to spend some time with your family? I know your mom would love it. You’ve got nieces and nephews you’ve barely seen.”
Ed’s heart squeezed at the future Max was painting. Ed loved the life they’d built over the past few years, but he had been missing his family. Yet, he’d been afraid of mentioning something and disrupting all that they had together.
“I would actually like to live close by for a while.” Ed stopped and cleared his throat. “But I’ll warn you, my family can be a lot. Birthdays, holidays, random cookouts. There are a lot of them, and they’re all loud and crazy.”
Max flopped back against his pillows, his entire body shaking with laughter. “Oh, my God! I’ve met your family. I know how crazy they are. They’re all amazing, and they don’t seem to mind that you’re running around with some insane white boy who likes to dig for dead people.”
“They like you because you’re insane, and my life has become far less dangerous with you in it.
” Ed leaned in and captured Max’s trembling lips in a deep kiss.
He could feel Max trying not to laugh. Yes, he was well aware that his statement was ridiculous.
His family was convinced that his life was safer because he censored out all the dangerous shit he and his boyfriend got into.
Max let out a sigh as they broke apart and rested his forehead on Ed’s. “So, what do you think? You want to try being normal people for a little while?”
“I’m tempted.”
“I swear, we will still travel the world, visit all our friends, and wander through unexplored crypts every year. You will still blow things up occasionally. And just maybe shoot someone. But not our neighbors. That would be bad.”
Ed hummed softly, making a show of contemplating the paradise Max was weaving for him. “Interesting. Will this house we purchase have a backyard?”
“It could.”
“Good. There’s something I’ve been thinking of wanting to try.”
“What’s that?”
Ed laid his head on Max’s pillow and thrust one hand out in front of them, waving it in the air as if he were motioning at a grand marquee. “Gardening.”
“Seriously? Gardening? As in growing vegetables?”
“Yes. Every year, my sister and her husband brag about growing the biggest tomatoes, and I want to beat her. I’ll grow tomatoes as big as her head.”
Max snorted. “You don’t even like tomatoes that much.”
“Not the point. Also, cucumbers. Back in the day, my mother made the best pickles. We’d grow the cucumbers and give them to her.”
“And we get jars and jars of pickles.” Max nodded. “This is a wise plan.”
“Thank you. It would also give me a chance to teach my nieces and nephews about proper Independence Day fireworks.”
“Oh, yeah, your family is going to love that.”
Probably not, but he’d be sure to teach safety first, so no one lost fingers and limbs.
Max turned his head on the pillow and smiled softly, his heart sparkling in his eyes. “Are you sure you want this? You’re not worried about being bored?”
“As long as you’re with me, I’ll never be bored a day in my life. Every day is an adventure with you. Even when it’s a so-called normal life.”