Listening to Nick speak, Mason leaned in and brushed the bridges of their noses together, nuzzling into the other man with a soft smile on his face. “Nick, baby, you’re never going to have to be without me, or find out what you’re going to do without me. I’m right here and I’m not going anywhere, I promise. I want you to know that.” Nick had asked to be taken into the bedroom too, so Mason nodded his head and reached for the other man to help guide him. “Yes, Sir. Come with me, my love. Follow me. We’ll cuddle all week long, if you want to.” The bedroom wasn’t far and Mason made his way straight there, walking with his head tucked under Nick’s arm so that he could drape the other man’s arm and his weight across his shoulders and lead them quickly and easily. They got to the bedroom and he placed Nick on the bed, then quickly stripped the both of them and snuggled up with Nick under the blanket. “We’re here, it’s okay. Hold me, I’ll hold you.”
Feeling this close, this intimate, was exactly what Nick needed. There was so much he wanted to say, so much he’d been mulling over and thinking about constantly, so much he’d never been able to find the words for. But as the days went by, and turned to weeks, then months, and now years that they’d both been on the Island, everything had begun to feel like a weight coming down, down, down, on Nick’s head. He’d had nightmares about losing Mason, about waking up to find that someone else had claimed him, that he’d waited too long and had who he knew to be the love of his life snatched right from under him. Nick was non-committal with a playboy attitude, and he worked hard to maintain his blase exterior. But, the longer things went on, the more he wanted to let go of all of that, to give himself entirely to Mason, to explore things they never had, in ways they never had. He just couldn’t ever find the words. Another nightmare and more pressure than he’d ever felt had lead to this breakdown, but maybe this was exactly what he needed. To finally be vulnerable. Mason took him into the bedroom, moving exactly as he needed, doing exactly what he’d wanted to request but hadn’t at the last second- stripping their clothing until they were both completely bare (in more ways than one) before laying them both down. Falling into the submissive was easier than anything Nick had ever done, and he pressed himself as tightly as possible into Mason, clinging to him as though he were a life preserver. And really, he was. “Mason...” Nick managed through tears, making certain to look him dead in his eyes. “I’m scared, Mason. I’m fucking terrified. I’m terrified of what I feel for you, what I know you mean to me. What I know I want. I’m terrified of rejection, of fucking shit up, of not being good enough or not being what you need in a Dominant. But most of all I’m fucking terrified of waking up one day and realizing you’ve been claimed by someone who wasn’t me. I couldn’t go on. I don’t want anyone else, Mase. I...I love you, Mason.” The words hung between them, words Nck hadn’t ever said before, he’d been too busy making sure no one saw what they had as anything more than another of his flings. But that wasn’t the truth, and hadn’t been for quite some time.
