Opossum Seven

Someone was gently brushing their fingers over his hair.

It took him a few moments to remember where he was, then a couple more for his heart to begin thumping harder in his chest.

Grim...

He really was in Grim's house.

I really did meet him yesterday.

Everything quickly came back to him as his eyelids slowly lifted to reveal a blurry face looking down at him.

"Grim?" he whispered as he slowly stretched his body out beneath the comfortable blankets. He hadn't slept so well in months.

"Feel good, babe?" Grim asked as Ian blinked a few times to clear his vision.

So handsome.

The man had clearly already freshened up and gotten dressed, but the thin tank top he'd chosen to wear right then was a tiny bit distracting.

In fact, he was so distracted that he'd evidently not heard something Grim had said, because after a few moments, the man reached down and, after grabbing the hem of his tank top, tugged it right up and over his head!

"If you like what you see that much, you can just ask me to take my shirt off," Grim teased, his words finally echoing into Ian's ears as a tiny line of drool slipped from the corner of his lips.

Forcing his eyes to look away, Ian quickly reprogrammed his scattered brain cells, then sheepishly sneaked a peak at Grim's face as he sat up.

He looked away almost immediately, then peaked again, but right as he was about to avert his gaze a second time, and apologize for being a pervert, his chin was grabbed by firm, warm fingers and forcefully turned back to face the man standing in front of him.

"Cute little fuck," Grim said, a chuckle to his words as he forced their eyes to lock for a few moments before releasing him, then tapping beneath his chin lightly.

"Breakfast is on the table."

With that statement, he was gone, leaving Ian blinking after him for a few moments before he quickly snapped himself out of his daze and jumped out of bed!

He was ready in moments and was dressed with his mouth and face scrubbed, and honestly, he felt pretty darn good for once.

When he walked into the living room, his eyes immediately found Grim standing in the kitchen, but unfortunately, he had put his shirt back on, and while he wanted to drink him in either way, his nose diverted his gaze toward the dinner table... and made his stomach grumble right away.

"Sit, babe."

Ian walked over and sat.

Grim walked over a few seconds later, twisting the cap off of a protein shake as he moved. The drink was then placed in front of him, then Grim went back and opened several containers. After taking out this and that, he returned to set them down beside the empty plate in front of Ian.

Vitamins?

Grim didn't explain what they were as he returned to the kitchen for two glasses of water and his own protein shake then, finally, sat down beside him... instead of across from him.

The man had brought his own stack of supplements and vitamins, and as soon as he downed them all in one go, Ian began taking his, one at a time, using the protein drink that he'd been given.

He had no idea what they were for, or what they were made out of, but he didn't care. Grim gave them to him, so he would take them.

"Eat whatever you'd like," the man said as he calmly began stacking his own plate with a pancake, a huge stack of eggs, and six pieces of what looked to be turkey bacon.

Ian glanced over the massive amount of steaming food and felt a bit overwhelmed. Grim could not only cook, but he had cooked for him.

Feeling his face warm, he gave a little nod and carefully reached forward to grab the tongs sitting on the pancake plate.

He added two to his own plate, then got a small scoop of eggs and some fruit that had been cut up into bite-sized pieces.

"Thank you for the meal," he told Grim with a smile before earning a gentle pat to his head in response, because the man's mouth was clearly full.

He tried the pancakes first, because they were honestly one of his favorite foods.

Blueberries!

The moment he felt warm berry juice on his tongue he nearly died from happiness. As it were, he hummed in appreciation and happily ate the entire first pancake before even realizing that there was a little container of syrup for them in front of him.

"Like them, hmm?" Grim asked as he watched him happily chew away at his mouthful of pancake.

Ian made an immediate affirmative sound as he nodded repeatedly, overjoyed with his rare morning meal. It definitely beat his regular two pieces of white bread he normally ate in the morning.

Grim cut a big piece from his stack a few moments later, then stuck them with his fork and lightly dipped them in the little bit of syrup he'd put on the side of his plate, before offering them to him.

Ian quickly swallowed his remaining bite of egg and accepted the proffered one.

Woah wait...

He'd never tasted such delicious syrup!

He had honestly never been a fan of the syrup his parents had bought when he was a kid so he never bought any for himself... even on the rare occasion that he managed to make a pathetic pancake here and there.

"It's fresh syrup from a farm just out of town. They sell it at the farmer's market every Saturday," Grim told him.

Ian lifted up the little bottle and looked it over curiously, but his eyes widened when he saw the price tag on the back!

Twenty dollars?!

"Don't you even think about feeling bad for eating something I'm offering you, alright?" Grim said in a tone that brooked no argument. Not that he would have ever even considered it.

Ian hurried to reply with a stuttered "y-yes sir," before accepting a grape that Grim had grabbed from his plate and held up to his lips.

Since that seemed to be the end of that conversation, they returned to eating, with Grim managing to polish off four pancakes, five eggs, two more pieces of bacon, and a handful of fruit, while Ian, shockingly, ate three pancakes, the remainder of the fruit, his little scoop of eggs, and the last three pieces of turkey bacon.

Once he was finally done he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes on a long, content sigh. There was then a damp cloth pressing against his mouth, then chin, gently but firmly wiping away any mess he'd managed to cause while stuffing his face.

He was a little surprised at having his mouth cleaned, but he didn't hesitate to straighten back up and thank Grim as the man walked back to the kitchen carrying some empty plates.

Putting two and two together, Ian quickly hopped up and grabbed the remaining dishes and glasses, then followed after him. To his surprise, Grim ignored the beautiful new-looking dishwasher he had and began scrubbing the dishes by hand.

Granted, he didn't even have a dishwasher at his apartment, as it had broken right after he'd moved in, and he'd reported it, but his place had never bothered to fix it.

It was for the best either way, though, because it was cheaper and faster to just do it by hand.

Grabbing a clean dish cloth, he settled himself beside Grim near the sink and quickly wiped dry each dish that he finished washing before putting them away in their designated areas.

Once they were done Grim walked around him and opened the fridge, then took something out and handed it to him.

"Your lunch for work," he said simply as Ian took the fabric lunchbox in his arms while Grim grabbed a second one for himself.

It's heavy...

He wanted to look inside, but Grim was already walking over to the door and getting his shoes on. That made Ian pause for a moment, then glance at his watch.

Oh man! I 'm going to be late if I don't leave soon!

Ian quickly got his own shoes on, then checked to make sure that he had his phone and wallet before following Grim out the... garage door?

Holy...

He nearly dropped his nice lunchbox as he stepped down into the garage and the light came on as the large garage door opened. Now, he wasn't really a car guy, mainly because he could never hope to afford one, but he'd seen such a car around quite a lot and couldn't help admiring its looks.

Before him was a gorgeous dark red Dodge Charger that looked absolutely pristine!

Honestly, the entire garage was extremely clean, with only a few things inside it and nothing out of place.

"You a car guy?" Grim asked as he walked over to the passenger side door and held it open for him.

Ian blushed and shook his head as he followed him over, then carefully slid into the spotless car.

It even smells new.

"I don't know much about cars," he said honestly, though he was embarrassed about that fact.

Grim leaned in with one hand on the top of the car and the other on the door.

"Good, because I don't give a shit about cars. I just wanted it because it looked nice."

Grim shut the door before he could comment, then walked around and dropped down into the driver's seat with a grin.

"I'll drop you off at the station, babe."

Hugging his lunchbox to his chest after fastening his seatbelt, Ian nodded.

"Thank you so much," he said as Grim got the car started and began backing it out onto the street.

"For everything, really. You're awesome."

He meant it, wholeheartedly.

Grim smirked but kept his eyes on the road, allowing Ian to relax into his seat and take in their surroundings.

He lives in a really cute neighborhood.

The houses were small, but everything was kept up well. There were also a lot of yards with natural wildflowers and fruit trees.

"So, how old is my husband?" Grim asked nonchalantly, nearly giving Ian a heart-attack!

Clearing his throat after a startled cough, Ian pursed his lips, then hunched his shoulders and felt his stomach twist.

"I-I'm twenty-four."

Grim hummed in consideration, though he didn't seem to be upset. Ian knew that he was nineteen, but he didn't put his age on his own profile because he'd never felt a need to.

"When's your birthday?" the guy asked suddenly, surprising him.

You're not worried that I'm older than you?

Most guys didn't like it when girls were older than them. Well, at least most guys that he'd known, and the few gay ones he'd dated when younger only wanted to go out with him because he was older than them... and wanted him to top.

Wait, when is my birthday again?

He thought for a few moments, then frowned as he realized something.

"Um... I guess I'm twenty-five now. It was last Thursday."

Grim tapped the brakes a little harder than necessary as they stopped at a red light, then glared over at him, making Ian fidget and fight himself to keep from looking away from the other man.

"You mean the Thursday I dragged your ass through that hellhole dungeon and got you killed four times?" he asked, his frustration just-barely audible in his tone of voice.

Licking his lips, Ian nodded.

"I really enjoy playing with you so I—" he let his words trail off into silence when he realized that Grim wasn't interested in his explanation.

Thankfully, they arrived at the train station a few moments later, before Grim got out, however, he turned to look at him with a serious expression on his handsome face.

"I'm not mad at you, alright?"

Ian quickly nodded.

"Okay."

They remained staring at each other for a short while longer before Grim gave a quiet sigh and got out of the car. Ian was about to get out, too, when he realized what Grim was doing and stayed put until the man had opened his door for him.

When he leaned in instead of stepping back, however, Ian frowned, confused.

"This is your late birthday present," Grim said quietly as he leaned in closer, sealing Ian's parting lips before he could question what he was planning to do.

The kiss only lasted three seconds, but Ian would be daydreaming about it all day.

Even after he was ushered onto the train and had to watch Grim's form disappear into the distance, and while he was stacking boxes and running errands at work.

The only time his mind gently nudged the daydream aside was when he was finally able to sit down and eat an extremely late lunch towards the end of his shift and opened his gifted lunchbox.

I...

He was crying.

Well, not just crying. He was barely holding himself back from bawling like a freaking baby.

The lunchbox Grim gave him not only had a huge turkey, lettuce, tomato, and cheese wrap settled inside it, but also a turkey bacon, chicken breast, salad wrap, and even a third one that looked to be just an insane amount of fresh veggies all snugly wrapped together.

The man had made him three huge wraps and put all of the dressings and sauces in little stackable containers on the side so that he choose which he preferred to use with which meal.

He would have been absolutely honored to call Grim his husband for real...

Tugging out the veggie one, because he was honestly craving the crunch, he unwrapped the cling wrap, then chose the ranch dipping sauce. His first bite was everything he'd hoped for, and more.

Oh man, I never thought vegetables could taste so good.

Grim had seasoned everything with a light mixture of Mediterranean spices and just a tiny bit of yogurt.

He'd never had anything that tasted similar, but before he knew it, the wrap was gone, and he'd only used half of the sauce he'd picked!

To his surprise, it also filled him up pretty well.

Since he'd eaten lunch so late, he decided to dawdle a bit until it was time to clock out, which left him exploring the remaining pockets of the lunchbox.

Hmm?

He pulled out three medium sized bottles, reading over their labels as he did so.

A bottle of supplements, vitamins, and an immune-boosting gummy.

They were what Grim had given him earlier that morning.

Unable to help himself, he tugged out his phone and sent Grim a quick Discord message, though he figured that the man would be busy and not likely reply right away.

Renegade: Thank you so much for the wraps and supplements, love! The veggie one was fantastic and I'll save the others for dinner and breakfast :D

Clicking off his phone screen when he didn't see the man replying right away, he got his new stuff packed up with a big smile on his face, then headed over to the time clock. Right as he lifted his badge up and heard the little chime telling him that it had accepted it, his phone vibrated and made an incoming message sound.

He waited until he was out on the sidewalk and away from the majority of pedestrians milling about before turning his screen on to read the message.

It had been a good plan, because he nearly gave out a very unmanly squeal of delight when he read what was written.

Grim: Eat the rest for dinner and drink at least twenty more ounces of water. I'll be in your part of town tomorrow morning and I'll make you more food if you dream about me ;)