Behind the Scenes

Chapter 33: Those Three Words

"Ming, I love you."

It's barely more than a whisper, but to Ming it might as well be a shout. The words he feared he would never hear from Kit's lips, now spoken aloud and lingering between them in Kit's childhood bedroom.

He wants to answer but he knows his voice would fail him, so instead he leans in to capture Kit's lips in a kiss.

How many times have he and Kit kissed by now? Ming can't begin to count. But it still feels new because he's never kissed this Kit.

This Kit, who admits to loving him.

This Kit, his boyfriend.

This Kit, his Kit, the boy he loves who loves him too.

Ming wants to shout. He wants to weep. He wants to run outside and howl his joy at the sky. But most of all he wants to hold Kit in his arms and kiss his sweet mouth until the moon sets and the sun rises on their first full day as boyfriends.

"I love you too," he murmurs against Kit's cheek. "I love you so much."

They're still sitting cross-legged on the bed, facing one another, which isn't nearly close enough as far as Ming is concerned. He solves this dilemma by simply scooping Kit into his lap, muffling Kit's little yelp of surprise with his mouth. Kit resists only an instant before relaxing into the new position, winding his arms around Ming's neck and his legs around Ming's waist, sighing audibly as Ming strokes a hand up his spine to settle warmly at the nape of his neck.

"Why are you so sweet to me?" Kit nips Ming's earlobe hard enough to make him startle, then soothes it with a quick kitten-lick of apology. "I didn't want to love you, but you just—just sweeted me into it, you bastard. Loved me into it. And now I can't let go."

"Good ," Ming replies fiercely. "Because you're mine now and you're not going anywhere. Hang on," he adds, this time as an instruction not an endearment. He tips Kit onto his back and follows him down, covering him, claiming his beloved Kitty with hands and mouth and the urgent pressure of his body.

Kit draws away just enough for a whispered protest. "But we promised Kieng—"

"No, we didn't," Ming says, his fingers already undoing the buttons of Kit's pajama top. "He said we shouldn't but we didn't promise him a thing." He pushes the top off Kit's shoulders, kissing and nibbling the revealed skin, and pushes the pajama pants down his hips. "Can you stay quiet?"

"Uhnn. I'm...not sure." But Kit's eyes are closing, his head tipping back, his thighs parting wider in unmistakable invitation. "I'll try. Oh god, Ming...there. Yes, there."

Gently but firmly, Ming puts a hand over his mouth. "Some day soon I'm going to ask permission to tie you up and gag you, Kitty. But not here. Not tonight."

Kit moans against his palm. Interesting. Make that one day very soon, Ming thinks.

Despite their heightened emotions, their lovemaking is brief. They're young and in love but they're also exhausted, and the presence of Kieng and Kit's parents down the hall inhibits Ming more than he cares to admit. He doesn't want Kieng in his head when he's touching Kit, nor does he want to risk outing Kit to his parents with loud sex. There will be time enough for Kit's beautiful noises when they're truly alone again.

So he keeps his mouth on Kit's, kissing him gently, kissing him slow, swallowing all his sweet sounds before they can escape into the room, and he uses his by now encyclopedic knowledge of Kit's body to bring him to orgasm with nothing but one expert hand and the rhythmic pressure of his hips. Simple pleasures in the dark. Simple acts given greater meaning by the words they've shared between them tonight.

"I love you," Ming says again after he's devoured the last of Kit's breathy cries. Tenderness and emotion make him more lyrical than usual and he adds softly, "I think I was made to love you, Kitty. I just didn't know it before we met."

"Mm-hmm," is all his exhausted Kitty manages to murmur, but he rubs his cheek against Ming's shoulder and presses a kiss there too, and it's enough. Ming has never felt so loved or so content.

With gentle but efficient hands Ming cleans them up and gets Kit back into his pajamas, smiling at how loose and pliant Kit becomes when he's been well pleasured. He subsides onto his own pillow, curling his big body around Kit's smaller one to keep him close and warm.

"Goodnight, my Earth," he whispers, knowing Kit has already succumbed to sleep. "Goodnight, boyfriend. Goodnight, love."