The ABO Serum

There's A Hole In This Home

Over the next couple of weeks Bob and Gary developed a routine. They'd meet up to walk in the afternoons, end up eating dinner together, hanging out in Gary's condo watching a movie or reading or just talking, and fall asleep beside each other in Gary's king-sized bed. There was plenty of room for two adult men. They didn't always cuddle. But they always seemed to be touching in some small way. They'd eat breakfast together in the morning and go their separate ways again until time for their next walk.

One evening their conversation wandered to the topic of clearing out their spouses' belongings after they passed away. Bob admitted he hadn't done this yet. The church ladies offered to help but he didn't have the heart for it. "Would you...," he started but couldn't ask that of Gary.

Fortunately, Gary understood. "Sure, I can help you do that. It's impossible to do alone. My sister-in-law helped me."

That's how they ended up in Bob's home with a pile of empty boxes, looking around helplessly at a house that he'd so entirely outfitted to suit the deceased woman that it would be easier to box up Bob's belongings and take them out. Gary said as much.

"I know," Bob confessed. "I've thought about moving out a thousand times. It hurts too much to stay here, but who else could deal with all this to make it sale-able? And where would I go?"

In a reckless moment of hope Gary offered, "You could move in with me. I rather like you for a roommate." Though he didn't go on to say anything about clearing out the second bedroom for Bob. They both knew that if he moved in, they'd be sleeping in the same room. Bob stopped to sit in the middle of the living room floor and think. Gary copied him, still waiting for an answer.

"Mary," Bob said after a while. He tilted his face to the ceiling and laid his hands flat on the floor at his sides as if he were trying to connect with the house. "I bought this house for you and you made it all yours and loved me here. But as a home for me now, it's got a great big hole in it. I wanted to keep this as a shrine for you, but I'm not supposed to worship anyone but God himself. So, if you're up there watching me through the windows of heaven, forgive me for making you a false god, for turning your home...a place that should be full of life, into a tomb for myself.

"I'm gonna let it all go now. I've met this guy here, and we both have someone important that we've lost, but together we don't feel so alone. So, I'm gonna live with him for now. I'm gonna try to be a whole man again instead of half a couple." Bob dropped his head and Gary could see his eyes were closed and damp. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then, he opened his eyes and smiled at Gary.

"I feel like an idiot talking to the sky like that. But more so for holding on to every scrap of a life that ended five years ago like it could do any good for the future. If you're okay living with me, I'm grateful." Bob took another deep breath after finishing this speech. Gary smiled back at him, his own eyes damp.

"It's okay. Houses are a big part of our lives and we have to say goodbye to them in our own way. Let's get you packed up."

We're both horrible communicators, Gary thought later as Bob hung up his dress shirts in the master bedroom closet of Gary's condo. But we seem to understand each other for the most part. "Bob, do you want to host an estate sale yourself or ask the church ladies to do it? We could go out of town for the weekend while it's happening." He set down a box of photo albums he'd brought in on the bed.

Bob walked out of the closet and started digging through the new box. "I think I'll go over tomorrow after church and give it one last look over. Make sure I haven't missed anything important, and then hand over the keys to the ladies. They've been offering for a long time. But we don't need to leave town."

The next question is what to do with the house itself," Gary said. "Rent it out or sell it. It's paid for and you're pretty well fixed for income, so you have choices."

"I think I need to let it go completely. I'll find a real estate agent. Maybe we could buy a place together." Bob smiled.

"I own this place outright, too. It has monthly fees to the association, but that means I don't have to do any maintenance. That was intentional," Gary countered.

"What will I do with myself if I don't have a lawn to mow?" Bob asked.

"I have some thoughts about that," Gary mused to himself. Bob was back in the closet hanging up another batch of shirts and didn't hear.

"Can I put the albums in the living room on the shelf with mine?" Gary asked louder.

"Sure," Bob shouted back. "We should look at them together sometime."

"We should," Gary agreed and heaved the box back up on his shoulder to carry to the living room. They weren't going to be roommates. Roommates kept their stuff separate because they expected to part someday, but all Bob's belongings were folded into Gary's home like they were making a permanent merger. Neither said anything about it. It just happened that way.

That night, Gary snuggled up to Bob in bed and Bob wrapped his arms around him and kissed his forehead. "Bob?" Gary whispered.

"Hmm?"

"Is this enough for you?" Gary asked.

"What do you mean?" Bob asked back.

"My next heat will come in another week and I'll go back into quarantine, unless..." he couldn't finish the sentence.

"Unless I want more?" Bob finished it for him. He nodded into Bob's chest. "You're nervous because I was married to a woman before?" Gary nodded again. "I don't know how to say this, but...," he took Gary's hand from his chest and brought it down to feel the erection he'd been fighting to ignore every night. "This just started happening on its own." His apologetic tone made Gary snicker quietly.

"Don't apologize for that," Gary whispered. "It makes me happy. But if we went further...you'd get infected, and we can't be sure how it will turn out. I think...I think that you're my reciprocal pair, which means you're probably an alpha, but that's just based on the way you smell to me which isn't scientific so changing based on that is a lot for me to ask of you."

"I smell good to you?" Bob asked.

"Like heaven," Gary sighed deeply at this admission.

"Can I...can I kiss you? Like, a real kiss, just to start with?" Bob asked. Gary turned his face up in response and Bob lowered his head, neither knowing how close their bodies were to a full-on explosion.

The soft pressing of lips together rapidly evolved into deep French kissing. Gary's hand, already next to Bob's hard-on, started stroking absently and Bob reached around to grab Gary's firm buttocks and pull him close, so their rigid cocks pressed together like their lips had first been. This ignited the next stage of their sexual rocket as they began rubbing frantically against each other.

The body Bob was touching felt toned and angular. So unlike his wife's soft curves. But the difference relieved him. He wasn't embracing a replacement. He was embracing a new beginning. A tenderness welled up inside him and he couldn't hold back from touching and caressing the other man, this omega who thought Bob might be his alpha. He wanted to be Gary's alpha. He wanted to love and protect and share his life with Gary.

That night they kissed and caressed until they both climaxed and fell asleep in each other's arms.