What Remains by Garrett Leigh

setting a steady rhythm that electrified the building inferno in Jodi’s gut.
    “Harder.” Jodi gasped and gripped the bed frame. “Harder, Rupe. Please.”
    Rupert groaned. “Fucking love it when you say please.” He thrust harder and brought his hand down on Jodi’s thigh with a light smack, a blow that stung just enough to tip Jodi into an inescapable gauntlet of pleasure.
    His legs shook, and he bit out another strangled curse. Rupert fucked him faster, and used his weight to force Jodi’s hands from the bed frame, pushing him down into the mattress. “I’m gonna come.”
    “Race you.” Jodi found the coordination to push his hips back, meeting Rupert hard in the middle. “I’m close.”
    A hot breath rushed past Jodi’s ear. Rupert’s arms tightened around him. Jodi cried out again and again, until sensory overload obliterated his awareness of anything but the deepest orgasm he’d ever had.
    He came with a yell, tipped over the edge by Rupert’s cock pulsing inside him. Rupert moaned and thrust twice more before he slumped over Jodi, panting, his body damp with sweat.
    For a long moment, neither man moved, then Rupert kissed Jodi’s neck and withdrew, retreating to the bathroom.
    He came back with a warm flannel, and cleaned up with a grin. “All right?”
    Jodi expelled a swift lungful of air. “All right? I’m in fucking bits. That was awesome.”
    “Yeah?” A bit of Rupert’s old bashfulness coloured his features. “I didn’t hurt you?”
    “Honestly?” Jodi touched Rupert’s cheek. “It did hurt, but I like that. It’s not for everyone, but it blows my tiny mind.”
    Rupert snorted and rolled over onto his back, taking Jodi with him to rest his head on Rupert’s chest. Jodi closed his eyes as Rupert combed his fingers gently through his sex-mussed hair. Having Rupert in his bed felt so normal. The nights they spent apart made no sense. Jodi let his mind drift, and imagined Rupert and Indie in Rupert’s tiny bedsit, cooped up in one room and huddled together in Rupert’s bed. Perhaps they liked it like that, but Jodi didn’t. Indie was a growing kid. Soon enough, she’d need her own space—space Jodi had to spare.
    “Where are you?” Rupert tapped Jodi’s forehead. “You’ve dropped off the face of the earth.”
    Jodi raised his head and put his chin on Rupert’s chest. “You know I have a spare room?”
    “Erm, yeah? You said it’s full of junk.”
    “It is, but it’s junk I don’t need. I want to chuck it all out.”
    “Okay.” Rupert frowned, like he knew where Jodi was going, but couldn’t quite believe it.
    Jodi couldn’t quite believe it either. After a mad few years flat-sharing after uni, and then living with Sophie, having his own place had been a relief, but the thought of seeing Rupert every day . . . every night, of building a life with him—damn. That shit felt like a dream he’d never known he wanted. “Live with me.”
    “What?”
    “Live with me,” Jodi said. “Move in. Paint the spare room pink for Indie and fucking live with me. Please?”
    “Are you serious?” Rupert’s gaze brightened, then faded again as caution crept in. “I mean, seriously serious? I’ve got fuck all, Jodi. I pay my bills, Jen’s debts and CSA payments, and I don’t have anything left. I couldn’t—”
    “We’ll figure it out. My mortgage isn’t huge ’cause I used the money my mum left me for the deposit.”
    “Your mum died? When?”
    “Ten years ago.”
    “I’m sorry, boyo.”
    Jodi shrugged. “Thanks, but it’s okay. We weren’t that close. Everyone thought she was some kind of super mum because my dad fucked off before I was born, but the truth was she worked so much I hardly knew her. The nannies raised me . . . all six of them.”
    “That’s pretty sad, but I get the not-being-close thing. My parents haven’t spoken to me since Jen and I split, and we didn’t talk that often before that. They never forgave me for leaving Ballyboden