FSE

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I woke up to the sound of a shower running. I looked at the clock and it was about 7 am, but the room was still fairly dark due to the heavy maroon curtains. I looked to my left, expecting Derek to be sleeping besides me; but he was gone. He must be the one in the shower. I yawned and realized I was still naked from last night. Grinning as I remembered the events of last night, I found my clothes and put them on. I sniffed myself and decided that I should probably shower too. I'll just wait for Derek to finish.

As I waited quietly in his room I looked around. I found a picture of us together. I had my arm around Derek and we were both smiling at the camera. Luckily there was someone kind enough to take a picture of us. There was also many family pictures on the wall; pictures of him and his parents, including pictures of him as a young pup. I stopped and looked at the picture of him as a pup again. He must have been around four years old. He hadn't changed over the years, I recognized the same bright smile that I loved to see; I saw the same wonderful, deep, blue eyes that I love to look into.

I scanned the rest of the pictures, which were mostly more family portraits, but one was of only Derek and his father at a park. They had the same gray and white coloring; Derek was smiling and his father was smiling down at him fondly, obviously proud of his son. Derek looked around nine at the time, the age when I had met him. I met his father once during a field trip, but never again. He must have been very busy with his work. Derek told me he was the CEO of a large corporation where he worked hard to make a fortune for his family. I closed my eyes and thought back to when we were talking nine years ago.

"I wanted to thank you for helping my son with the bully. Derek told me the day that it had happened," he said with a smile. We were talking alone; Derek had went to the bathroom and his father probably wanted to thank me without embarrassing Derek.

"You're welcome, sir. He's a good friend and a good person. No one should be treated like that, " I replied.

"Well, you're a very smart boy. Very mature for your age," he said thoughtfully.

"Thank you, sir."

"I'm glad we got this chance to talk and meet each other. Derek looks up to you as a role model; he wants to be like you," he said. I had started to object, but he continued, "I'm glad he is looking to you as a role model, you are a good kid."

Soon after, Derek returned and we continued on the field trip.

I opened my eyes and looked at the picture again. It was a shame that he had passed away; he was a good man. "Why didn't you tell me," I whispered softly.

"It was too painful to bring up," Derek said from behind me. I turned and saw Derek standing with a towel around his waist, his fur still wet from his shower. "I miss him," he whispered faintly.

"He would be proud of you," I said, hoping that would cheer him up a bit.

"Thanks...let's not talk about this anymore. It brings up too many memories," he sighed.

"Here, let's go eat breakfast," I said, glad to change the subject. We left his room and went toward the kitchen. We exchanged our good mornings with Mrs. Price when we found her reading in room by a window.

We had pancakes with maple syrup, nothing fancy. As we were eating, Derek asked a question that surprised me.

"John?" he asked looking down at his half-eaten pancake.

I looked up, "Yes?"

"I want to know something." He looked up and stared straight into my eyes, "Why did you help me all those years ago? Why me? I wasn't anything special back then; I may not be anything special now. But you still helped me. Why?"

He continued to look into my eyes, waiting for an answer. I looked straight back into his and told him the truth.

"I helped you because I saw something special in you. I wanted to be friends when I saw you on the first day of school, but I could never find the courage to walk up to you. And well, you know what I had thought about friendships. So I never tried to walk up to you and I went home without a friend. But when you were being bullied the next week, I saw my chance, perhaps the only chance that I would get. I didn't hesitate; I took it." I realized I missed something and spoke again, "And I saw that you were defenseless against the bear cub; I couldn't stand back and watch." I gave a weak smile, "And uh... I thought you were pretty cute when you were a pup."

He smiled and looked down, blushing slightly in embarrassment. It made me so happy to see his smile; I would do anything to make him happy.

"What do you want to do today?" I asked, finishing up my breakfast.

Derek thought about it, "Well, I need to get a few things first, groceries mostly."

"I'll go with you; I like spending time with my favorite husky." I said smiling as I put both of our dishes in the sink. "When do you want to go?" I asked.

"We can go now if you want. I just want to get it done and out of the way," Derek replied.

"The sounds good. What time is it?" I asked.

"About half-past eight," he said looking at his phone.

"Let me get cleaned up a bit and we can go." I said after giving myself a quick sniff.

"Alright."

After I took my shower, we got into Derek's truck and left to the grocery store. As we walked down the aisles and collected the items on the list Derek had brought, I had an idea. I saw some roses on sale and thought about getting them for Derek. I think he would like that and I really want to show him that I love him. "Hey, I have to get something real quick. I'll meet you at the checkout." I said to him and began to briskly walk away.

"Alright," I heard him call after me. Now, how could I surprise him? Maybe I'll put it in the car and give it to him there. I decided on this as I picked a nice rose bouquet and headed toward the checkout.

I gave the bouquet to the cashier and reached for my wallet. The cashier was a female Golden Retriever, she was pretty, but I wasn't interested.

"Getting this for a lucky girl?" she asked innocently as she processed my purchase.

"No, my boyfriend," I correct. I didn't hesitate to tell her that it was for my boyfriend; I loved Derek and I was proud to be gay. "Is there a problem?" I asked with a little bit of challenge in my voice.

"N-no, there isn't a problem!" she hastily reassured me. I relented, after all, she only asked an innocent question. But people these days almost always have problems with gay people. Best not to let my guard down.

I finished my purchase and took the bouquet of roses as well as a plastic bag. I left the store and went to the car. The weather was great; it was cloudy gray sky with a breeze. When I got to the Derek's truck, I took out the spare keys and opened the door. I laid the plastic bag I took under my seat and gently placed the bouquet on it. The bouquet wasn't very big, about four roses, but I knew he would like it anyway. I locked the door and went back to the store.

I waited for only a few moments before I saw Derek approaching the checkout stations. He looked like he was thinking deeply on something and had almost walked past me. But I grabbed his arm to get his attention. He seemed to snap back into reality and he looked at me. There was a very brief moment before he gave me a smile. I saw something in his eyes before he smiled at me, but it had faded too quickly for me to realize what it was. Was he troubled with something?

"Where is the thing you needed to buy?" he asked with a confused expression.

I smiled, "It's already in the car. Do you have all you need?"

"Uh, yeah. I do," he said still a bit distracted.

"Are you alright? You look a little shaken," I asked, concern slipping into my voice.

"I'm fine. Here, let me pay for the groceries and we can go," he said as he began went to the station and began giving the groceries to the cashier. I frowned slightly, I was sure something was wrong. He payed for the groceries and we walked out to the car. As we were walking, he asked in a slightly cheerful tone, "What did you get?"

"You'll see very soon, love," I gave him a warm smile that I had hoped would express my affectionate feelings toward him. When we got to the truck, Derek placed the groceries in the back seats and got into the driver seat. I got into the passenger seat and made sure to keep the roses hidden. I was glad that Derek's senses didn't pick up the faint fragrance of the roses. But it was strange, he must be very distracted with something.

"Close you eyes," I said in a gentle voice. Smiling, Derek closed his eyes. I took the bouquet of roses out from under my seat and held it out to him. I saw his nose twitch.

"Okay, you can open your eyes now," I whispered softly. He slowly opened his eyes. I carefully watched his face. His face expressed a pleasant surprise at the gift. I smiled brightly, pleased that he had liked my gift. "I know it's not much, but I wanted to show how much I love you," I explained.

"It's perfect. Thank you," he said taking it and examining it. He gently put it on the car's dashboard and pulled me into a hug. I wrapped my arms around him in return. I laid my head on his shoulder and closed my eyes. I wanted to enjoy this moment as much as I could. "I love you too," he whispered softly in my ear. He started to pull away, reluctantly I let him break the hug.

He smiled at me, his eyes a little teary. I loved his smile, it filled me with happiness knowing that he was happy. "Alright, let's go home," he said and gently placed the bouquet on the space between us. He pulled out of the parking lot and drove home.

We hung out for the rest of the day. At sometime I felt like exercising, so we both decided to go out running. It was a nice day after all. We ran about fourteen miles, seven there and back. When it was about seven pm, we, including Mrs. Price, ate dinner and talked for the rest of the night. We decided to go to bed early, having not gotten so much sleep the last night. I prepared for bed and returned to my bedroom.

As I was lying in bed, I thought of Derek. He had given me so much. A home, a bed, a family, his love...it was all I had ever hoped for. It's a shame I couldn't sleep with Derek again, I thought to myself. I miss having his warm body next to me under the covers. The steady rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. I especially miss the look on his face as he slept. So calm and peaceful, free from pain. But, if Derek's mom isn't okay with it, I shouldn't. We were lucky last time. Maybe I'll ask her tomorrow. I slowly slipped from consciousness and into sleep.