Part 13
AJ awoke a few hours later, and was momentarily disoriented. He felt the person in his arms shift and pull him closer, and for a second he wondered what was going on. He looked down at the head laying on his chest, and saw Howie laying there. This brought the memories flooding back, and he sighed contentedly and tightened his hold on Howie. It hadn't been a dream. It was real, he loved Howie and Howie loved him back and the world was a wonderful place.
He stiffened as a thought hit him. The world, what would they think? What would happen if they found out? Would they lose everything they had worked for? Would the world hate them? And the other guys- what would they say? Would they accept them? Or disown them? Could he handle losing the closest thing he had to family?
Howie awoke from his slumber as he sensed the change in AJ's demeanour. He squeezed his arms around him and lifted his head from his chest to look into his lovers' eyes. He saw the fear there and knew what he was thinking. He was scared at what would happen next. He knew because he was scared too. He moved so that he was above AJ, staring down at him, big brown eyes full of love and caring.
AJ looked up into Howie's eyes, and could see the depth of the emotions there. He could see that Howie was scared too, but just looking into his eyes, he knew that he couldn't turn back now. Neither of them could. They were in love, and they were together, and that was all that mattered. He found that he was more scared of losing Howie than he was of everybody else's opinions. The only person that mattered was Howie. He took strength from this knowledge, and his resolve stiffened, those things were in the future, and they would deal with them one at a time, and they would deal with them together.
But for now, nobody knew, and they didn't have to worry about it. As long as they stayed together everything would be okay. He brushed his fingers softly over Howie's cheek and smiled.
'I love you. Always have, always will. Together forever.'
Howie saw the truth in his eyes, and smiled back, before resting his forehead on AJ's.
'Forever.' He breathed softly, before lowering his head the rest of the way so that he could gently kiss his lover.