Chapter 37
MASON
The last dying breath of autumn clings to the trees along the barren back roads as Callum speeds down them.
Mason’s fingers are intertwined with Callum’s and he has his likely last maple latte of the season in his other hand, warming him up.
He’s never been to this supposed destination that Callum keeps alluding to, and never even heard of the area they’re traipsing around.
He relaxes in his seat as he realizes that this will be the first time in years that they’ve had completely uninterrupted time together that he knows isn’t limited. It’s only a couple of days, but they always had some kind of ticking clock on them.
They always have exams, games, homework, parties, prying eyes, and expectations constantly looming over them, and maybe some of those pressures are still there, but now they don’t feel like they’re going to drown him.
Just as he finishes his maple latte, Callum makes a turn down an even more barren road, filled with gravel, and eventually turns into the driveway of a cabin perched on a lake surrounded by pine trees.
“Wow,” Mason nearly whispers.
Callum squeezes his hand. “I told you it would be worth it.”
Callum parks, they get out of the car, and Mason takes his overnight bag with him to the entrance, with Callum never letting go of his hands the entire time.
It’s almost completely silent as they stand at the door. It’s like no one exists in this area, and he wouldn’t be surprised, since there don’t seem to be many houses in the area.
Callum unlocks the door, and the smell of pine immediately hits him.
The door opens into a small living room, with a couch, a few love seats and a stone fireplace.
Callum takes Mason’s bag from him and disappears into another room as Mason looks around.
It’s tiny, but it’s perfect. There are wool blankets perched on every couch and chair, and there’s a dining room table that sits just in front of a giant window overlooking the lake.
Callum reappears from another room and stands behind Mason and massages his shoulders.
“It’s beautiful,” Mason whispers.
Callum kisses his shoulder, and electricity surges through him at the contact. “It was April’s.”
Mason spins around, tears welling up in his eyes. “It was.”
Callum nods, his mouth thin and eyes swimming with grief. “She brought me here every once in a while to get away from dad. I didn’t know it was to get away from him at the time… I thought it was just to spend time with me. It was probably both.”
Mason grabs Callum’s face with one of his hands.
He leans into it, closing his eyes and breathing deeply as he sinks into Mason’s comfort.
“I just want to feel close with her again… And after what happened with my dad… I just feel even more distant from her.”
Mason nods. “That makes sense.”
Callum opens his eyes. “But… when I look at you, I’m reminded that her warmth it still there. That you knew her. That you were like a second son to her. That I wasn’t alone in losing a mother.”
Mason bites back tears as he thinks about April. He pushed down his feelings of grief for a while after he and Callum stopped talking, but it wouldn’t take away from the fact that April was once like a mother to him.
“So I wanted to bring you here. Because you matter just as much as she does to me. That you keep her memory alive. Because you let me be myself around you. You like me for who I am.”
Mason chuckles as a tear streams down his cheek and he kisses Callum.
“Cal…”
Callum takes Mason’s hand and kisses his palm. “Thank you, Mason. For being you. And letting me be me.”
Mason hugs Callum and squeezes him like he’s about to float away. “Thank you, Callum… for letting me find my voice.”
They stand in the dining room overlooking the lake for a while, standing still, just hugging until the sun sets.
“I didn’t know you could cook.”
“It’s a family recipe. It was my mom’s special pumpkin and squash soup.”
“April was a true fall lover, wasn’t she?”
“That… sounds like some kind of seasonal pun.”
Mason chuckles as Callum finally sits down across the small mahogany table with his own food.
Callum made a pumpkin soup with some garlic bread and apparently baked an apple crisp while Mason sat at the dining room and studied Modern Physics for the past couple of hours.
Mason grins at Callum.
Callum lifts an eyebrow. “What?”
“Nothing. I’m just… feeling very grateful.”
Callum smiles. “Just try the soup and see if you’ll still be thankful… I haven’t made it before and maybe only my mom had that special touch that made it good…”
Mason snorts and has a spoonful.
It’s amazing.
Warmth floods through him as he stares at Callum slurping his own bowl.
“I guess this is the Thanksgiving we really wanted,” Mason says.
Callum nods. “And I even got to celebrate it with my mom.”
Mason’s chin trembles as he nods. She’s in the room, her soup warming him up and her touch covering every woven blanket, wallpaper, and furniture placement.
The place is surely hers, and now it’s up to them to make it their own.
Callum holds up a glass of sparkling apple juice that he found in one of the cupboards. “To April.”
Mason smiles and raises his own glass. “To April.”
They clink glasses and take a sip.
It’s bitter, and definitely not what Mason likes, but he does it for Callum.
They keep eating their dinner, with Mason going on long tangents on his teachers and the amount of work he has to do for his journalism class.
Callum goes on about which teammates he loves and despises. He talks about what his ideal career looks like if he gets drafted.
It’s the first time they can sit down and have a normal conversation, much like they used to when they were younger.
Back when they were just Mason and Callum.
Once a thing of the past and now, something of the present and future.
Callum lights a candle and places it on the coffee table in front of the now roaring fireplace.
He jumps onto the couch and swaddles himself in the wool blanket right next to Mason and puts his arm around him.
“All cozied up?” Callum asks Mason.
Mason flushes. “Yes.”
Callum grins. “Good.”
Mason rests his head on Callum’s shoulder as they sit in silence, watching the flames lick around the kindling and firewood.
He wants to stay here forever. He wishes he could skip past final exams, even though he loves to study for them. He loves having to cram an entire semester’s worth of information into his head and then spit it all out onto paper and then forget about it as soon as he walks out of the exam room.
But right now, in the warmth of the crook of Callum’s arm and sitting in front of the fireplace, he wants to skip past all of it and stay here for a month or two.
Callum kisses Mason’s head. “What are you thinking about?”
Mason inhales. “Just wanting to be here forever. To just… exist.”
“I think we both need to do more of that. We’re always in over our heads with how much we put on our plates.”
Mason nods. “It’s a problem.”
Callum squeezes Mason’s shoulder. “But at least we’re in it together.”
Mason looks up at Callum. “That we are.”
Callum’s face turns serious for a second as he stares down at Mason. He swallows hard, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he does.
His eyelids turn heavy, and he plants a kiss on Mason’s mouth.
He lets his lips rest there and he pushes his lips harder into Mason’s.
Mason’s stomach lurches and twists with warmth as he leans into the kiss, letting his neck hang loose as he lets Callum take over.
Callum takes the back of Mason’s head in his hand and pushes him closer to him, a small moan escaping his mouth as he kisses Mason’s harder.
Mason inches himself closer to Callum, wanting to distance between them to get smaller.
Callum seemingly has the same idea as he grabs Mason’s inner thigh and pulls Mason closer to him, with the force of his hands sending shivers down his spine.
They continue kissing, each getting more hurried and frenzied.
Callum grabs Mason’s entire body and softly lifts him up, shifting him to have his back on the couch.
Callum keeps the blanket on them and rests his body full on top of Mason’s.
Callum’s weight is nearly fully on top of Mason’s.
Callum rushes in for more kisses, and Mason runs his hands through Callum’s hair, clinging to a fistful like his life depends on it.
Callum breaks apart and lifts his Hornets sweater over his head, exposing his bare torso in all of its glory.
Mason blinks.
Callum stops, his eyes flashing with hesitation. “Are you—do you want to—”
“Yes,” Mason says immediately.
Callum smiles and nods. “Okay,” he says breathlessly.
Callum’s body is back on Mason’s and they’re kissing again.
Callum’s bare arms are balmy and smooth in his hands.
He feels every groove of Callum’s abs, and every peak and crater of Callum’s muscles like they’re a map he’s trying to draw for the first time, that’s he’s testing uncharted waters.
Callum is Mason’s to discover.
Mason breaks apart from their kiss.
Callum stops.
“Are you okay?” Callum asks, his tone soft and full of worry.
Mason nods. “Yes. I’m—I’m more than okay, Cal.”
Mason sniffs and wipes away at a tear.
“Mase,” Callum nearly chokes out.
“No—it’s okay. Callum. You—you haven’t done anything wrong, I—Just wanted to say that I—I love you.”
Callum rubs his thumb along Mason’s cheek, appearing like a divine beauty in front of him, his eyes warm and body bewitching in the dull, amber light of the fire.
“I love you too, Mason Fanning.”
Mason nods. He knows. He thinks he’s always known that, deep down.
“I’m glad that we finally…”
Mason stops, wondering if he should say what he’s thinking.
Callum stares down at him, his eyes eager and expecting.
“We finally got to rule our own kingdom. It’s ours, Callum. This place.”
Callum bends down and kisses Mason’s forehead.
Callum takes Mason’s face in his hands, and he smiles bigger than he’s ever seen Callum smile, like he’s the happiest he’s ever been.
“Not just this place, Mason… We made our own kingdom. In each other.”
And after one final kiss, Callum helps Mason take off his shirt.
In what passes like seemingly hours, the carpeted floor of the cabin becomes littered with socks, shirts, sweaters, and pants.
Seemingly effortlessly, the couch becomes their throne, and they both ruled together.
And in one fell swoop, they didn’t have to bow down to any other powers looming over their heads, threatening to dethrone them.
Mason kneeled to Callum and Callum alone.
And as they bare themselves of the armor they’ve been wearing for so long, they become the sovereigns of their own kingdom.