I Want You To Be My Last

Part 5 : Slow

There was momentary silence after the familiar sound of the call getting through, a pause, then the sound of a quiet breath followed. Gulf didn't know he was holding his breath in turn, biting his lips and gripping his phone hard in anticipation his palm was hurting when he noticed it.

The silence stretched for a while and it made Gulf wonder whether they were both waiting for the other to break it.

The sound of the other person's laughter in his ear the moment later surprised him.

"Normally, this is the part where we should at least be greeting each other for starters, don't you think? " S was saying next, and it was all Gulf could do not to smile to no one in particular in answer. To be fair, the reaction was instantaneous; he'd been talking to his person almost everyday for the past month, and finally being able to put a voice to those messages felt - nice.

Also, hearing S' voice made Gulf glad that he wasn't wrong in assuming he'd been talking to a man all this time.

"Um, hi?" Gulf returned, feeling kind of silly for the way he was smiling like a girl getting a call from his crush.

"Hello, K," S countered, charmingly, and Gulf really needed to have a better grip on himself lest he'd end up embarrassing himself in the process.

"Nice to finally hear your voice, I guess."

Gulf could say the same thing himself, but decided against saying so at the last minute. Instead, he cleared his throat and hoped he didn't sound as giddy as he felt as he willed the words out despite the difficulty.

"You didn't sound surprised," he said, "I thought the first thing you'll say to me is that I sounded like a man the moment you heard my voice."

S' answering chuckle sounded like a tease when Gulf heard it, and he swore it sounded so much better hearing it than just imagining it.

"I knew you were a man even before I messaged you back, K. I mean, I know we haven't really talked about this - well, it's not like we have any reason to, at least until now, but you have to know that I prefer it like this. Mild knew that, too; he wouldn't have given you my number otherwise." S said matter-of-factly, and it was more of a confirmation than just a simple reply to Gulf's question.

The other man's honesty made something in Gulf's chest tight for some reason, glad and equal-parts grateful that S trusted him enough to tell him the truth instead of sugar-coating it for his sake.

The realization felt nice, to be honest.

"I have a feeling you're just trying to make me feel better by saying that, but okay. I mean, wow." he quipped, raising his voice a little and laughing to cover up the way his voice shook with emotion he could hardly contain.

S chuckled yet again. "Disappointed? "

Gulf breathed through his nose and shook his head, realized the other man couldn't actually see him so he cleared his throat and murmured, "Not at all," he answered, as opted on returning S' honesty.

"The truth is, it actually feels nice to finally put a voice to the words I've enjoyed reading this past month. I mean it. Stop grinning, I'm being serious here. Hey, I said stop it." he said, making it sound like he was threatening but it was hard to act and make it sound that way when in fact, he was grinning too.

Another pause, and then S was saying, "I was actually surprised when you asked me to call. I mean, I thought we had an agreement. Stay anonymous, remember?"

Gulf swallowed the uncertainty down, despite the difficulty.

"I know," he answered, "I seriously don't know what came over me earlier but I just... When you said you wouldn't be able to text me, I - panicked," he admitted, embarrassed.