TWENTY-SIX

Kissing was nice. Kissing was great. He enjoyed it more than he thought he would, but kissing with his back pressed against the hard armrest of a couch was not nice. It was uncomfortable, but Stefan was pressed against him, keeping him in the position. That wasn't to say he wasn't enjoying himself. He was definitely enjoying himself; he was just sore.

Stefan pulled away to press light kisses against his chin and cheeks, slowly moving down to his neck. Hugo took the opportunity to suck in a deep breath, squirming at the twinge in his back. He let out an irritated groan when Stefan pulled away, longing to grab the collar of his shirt and pull him back down.

"Is something wrong?" Stefan asked, face warped by concern. "Did I do something you didn't like?"

Hugo shook his head. "You're fine," he replied, smiling at him. "But my back hurts like this."

"Oh!" Stefan looked almost shocked by the admission, as if he'd been expecting something worse. "Well, that I can fix."

It was awkward, trying to manoeuvre themselves on the tiny couch. By the time Hugo decided to ask if they could go into the bedroom, something he'd anxiously declined when he'd arrived at Stefan's apartment, Stefan was lying on the couch and Hugo was staring down at him.

"You're right, this is a little uncomfortable," he said, wriggling to that he was in a better position. Hugo sat on the edge of the cushion, teeth biting into his lip, and before he could second guess himself, he shifted so that he was straddling the other man's lap. "Oh, hello. Am I good to do this?" As he spoke, he placed his hands on Hugo's thighs.

He let them sit there for a moment, trying to figure out if he liked it or not. He did, but it felt a little too close to something he wasn't ready for. "Not yet," he replied and moved his boyfriend's hands up to his waist before leaning down to kiss him again. He hummed as Stefan moved one hand to run it through his hair, keeping the other planted against his waist.

The front door to the apartment burst open and Hugo jolted away with a gasp. "Oh, Jesus, guys! Stefan, you have a bedroom for a reason!" Renee yelled from the doorway. Hugo had his back to her, but that didn't stop the heat from exploding across his cheeks. Stefan sat up, looking over Hugo's shoulder at his roommate.

"Sorry," he said, wrapping his arms around Hugo and pulling his face against his shoulder. He willingly hid his blush in the dark fabric of Stefan's shirt. "We got a little carried away. I thought you were had work tonight."

"I did. I finished," Renee replied, followed by the faint sounds of something being placed on the bench.

Stefan's hand moved up and down his back. "Oh. Uh, time went by quicker than I thought," he said. Renee muttered something in response that Hugo couldn't quite hear and Stefan's body began to shake against him. It took him a minute to realise that the other man was laughing. "You okay there, Hugo?"

He hummed in reply but didn't want to pull away just yet. He was comfortable. "He's embarrassed," Renee said over the sound of clattering plates. And there was that. Renee had just walked in on him making out with someone. Of course, he was going to be embarrassed, but the words only made Stefan laugh harder.

Hugo smacked him the arm and pulled back to glare at him. "Stop laughing at me," he signed.

"It got you to look up, didn't it?" Stefan replied and Hugo whacked him again. "Ow. Rude. I'm not just laughing at you, dork. I'm laughing at this whole situation." Stefan had a different reaction to embarrassment than Hugo. The former laughed it off while the latter hid away with a bright red face.

"Are you two lovebirds hungry?" Renee asked and Hugo finally moved from his place on Stefan's lap. His stomach growled as he grabbed the burgers she'd brought him. She grabbed his hand to stop him. "It's all good, okay? I'm not judging you or anything, so I hope you don't get too worked up."

Hugo smiled. "I know, I was just a little embarrassed." Renee smiled at him and let go of his hand. He grabbed the burger with a giddy smiled and plopped back on the couch as Stefan stood. His phone beeped at him and he frowned. An unknown number was texting him.

Unknown: Hi Hugo, this is Rose. I just wanted to let you know the I decided to let you bring your friend and boyfriend to the pride parade. I'm allowing one of the others to bring their partner and I thought it only fair to allow you to bring yours. Have a good weekend and I'll see you next week

Hugo beamed. He'd brought Renee (After a lot of convincing) to the last GSA meeting so that Rose could meet her. It had gone about as well as he'd expected, Renee had argued and complained the hour before they'd arrived, but she'd been nice enough to keep silent during the session. And she'd been kind to Rose when she'd come to talk to her.

He tapped Stefan on the shoulder as he sat and showed him the message, grinning all the while. He'd been worried about them not being allowed to go. There was no way he'd be able to go if he didn't have them with him. And now he could because they'd be walking right next to him.

Renee let out a gasp when she saw the message. "Okay, I don't like the group that much, but I really want to go to pride," she said when he raised an eyebrow at her. "But this means we get to go shopping for pride outfits. We have to pick a day where we're all free so we can get it all done."

"Oh boy, here we go," Stefan muttered, staring at his best friend in amusement.

She poked him in the ribs. "Don't judge me. I've always wanted to do this," she said and crossed her arms over her chest. Hugo smiled at her excitement, glad he wasn't the only one. He could tell Stefan was excited too in the way he smiled and leaned back against the couch.

He was glad he didn't have to worry about Stefan not being allowed to go anymore. If he was being honest, it stressed him out a little. Or maybe that was his classes. They had only gotten harder since the semester break ended and he should have expected it, but that didn't mean he was able to handle it.

It wasn't so bad. He was able to keep up with the workload, it just took him a lot longer to understand all of the content. Most of the time when he was sharing notes with Renee, he was also reading through anything he hadn't quite understood during class. They didn't have another assessment for a couple of weeks, but he wanted to be as ready for it as he possibly could.

Over the couple of weeks since school started back up, his lecturer had emailed him information for a few writing events that were coming up. Most were online, live streams and workshops that he could do without too much anxiety. But there was one that required his physical presence, a convention of some sort. And he wanted to go to it.

His lecturer had said she would be there if he needed anything, but most of the time it was just wandering around to stalls and listening to panels. He wouldn't have to do too much talking hopefully, but he would need to bring someone anyway. He'd forgotten about it until just then. He'd told his lecturer that he would go, and she'd made sure that he was put down with a plus one, he just hadn't organised who his plus one would be.

He drummed on the coffee table to get his friends attention. They were bickering about something, but he'd zoned out ages ago. He placed the remains of his burger on the coffee table and shifted so that he was facing them both. "So, I was sent some information for a writing convention next week and I really want to go, but I don't think I can go on my own."

"You need someone to translate for you?" Stefan asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know if I'll actually talk to anyone, but it might be good to have someone there just in case," he answered. He didn't want to go somewhere that would most likely be incredibly crowded on his own and then not be able to explain that he was freaking out because no one knew sign language.

"When is it?"

"Next week, on Saturday."

Stefan cursed. "Sorry, babe, I have work all day," he said. Hugo faltered for a minute, his mind still reeling over the word 'babe' to actually comprehend what Stefan said. They hadn't even properly talked about being in a relationship, that's just what he had assumed they were. It seemed that he had assumed correctly for once.

"Unlike your shitty boyfriend here, I'm free," Renee said, laughing when Stefan smacked her in the shoulder. "I don't know anything about writing, but I can translate for you if you need to."

"I'm not a shitty boyfriend!" Stefan argued, glaring at her.

Hugo huffed out a laugh. "Thank you."

"Does that mean you'll be able to promote your editing stuff?" Stefan asked. Hugo hadn't even thought about it. He was still working through Tomas's book, which was slow going, but good. He hadn't had anyone ask about, but Tomas did say he would tell his writer friends about him. Hugo was meticulous. He picked out anything and everything that could be fixed so Tomas could have the most polished manuscript possible.

He frowned in thought, eyebrows furrowed. "Possibly. I'm not sure. I hadn't really thought about it," he replied. "I guess if anyone asks, I could tell them that I do editing, but I don't have much to show for it just yet because I'm still working through everything with Tomas."

Stefan shrugged and said, "It would still be a good opportunity to tell people about it." He was right, it would be a good opportunity, but that was if people actually asked him. He didn't know much about writing conventions, but he doubted many people would want to talk to someone not running a stall or panel.

But it would still be a good chance to get a look at both publishing markets and maybe make some writer and editor friends. Maybe even talk to some of the publishing companies if it was possible. He doubted Renee would mind him dragging her around for a couple of hours. She might even find some books she liked. He had no idea what genres she enjoyed if she even liked reading, but who knew.

He hadn't picked up a book for enjoyment purposes in months. Tomas's book was the first one he'd read in a long time. He was surprised he wasn't completely out of practice. There was a chance that he would find plenty to read at the convention. A lot of debuts coming out needed people to read their books. He could be that person.

He shifted so that he was leaning against Stefan. "It would be good," he signed and then looked and Renee. "Thank you for offering to come."

"Hey, no problem. I did tell you I would ages ago, didn't I?" she said. That was true. Back when his lecturer had approached him about it in the first place, Renee had offered to come along and translate for him. "It'll be fun, I promise. I'll make sure you have a good time." Hugo smiled. He didn't doubt that one bit.