Terell Jones was an engineer. He lived in town with his boyfriend, whom he met in college. They were each in their faculty’s soccer team at the time. Vicente was a grad student in the math department, and he remembered coming across Terell’s profile on a dating app. After a game were they played against each other, he went to the freshman to greet him at the college. Terell was intimidated at the time by Vicente’s age and was too embarrassed to admit that he freaked out and deleted the app after some guy gave him a lewd comment. He nevertheless accepted to go grab a beer after the next game, and by Terell’s second semester, they were regularly hooking up.
The two of them eventually decided to become an item, as they had undeniable chemistry and liked spending time together outside of the bedroom. When Vicente finished his masters, he worked odd jobs until he got a position as a TA at the college, which was convenient to both of them. They kept the apartment they shared for a few more years, even after Terell found an engineering job in the city. Their newer apartment was more comfortable, and modern. They even had an extra room for Terell to use as his office, now that he was allowed to work from home. It had been nine years since they met, and their relationship was now a steady, quiet routine. Terell wasn’t one to complain. This sense of safety was great in his opinion : his main regret was that their intimacy seemed to be constantly declining.
Sure, they were still sharing the bed, his arm curled against his latino lover’s almost hairless chest. They were still kissing often enough to be unable to recount how often it happened in any given day. They just didn’t fool around as much as they used to. Was it normal for a 35 years old man to have such a reduced libido, or was there something else? Sure, Terell wasn’t in his best shape anymore. At 28, he could already see that the 30s were lurking around the corner as he became pudgier against his best attempts at a healthy lifestyle. In a sense, Vicente was luckier : he seemed to have a better metabolism than him. Being a volunteer firefighter for the college probably helped, too, but their constitution seemed different. Both men could generally be qualified as average in terms of height, weight and build. Terell was the taller one, whereas a few inches shorter, Vicente had a stronger silhouette. His wide shoulders, chest and hips, that gave him some sort of huskier appearance in comparison to Terell.
Vicente’s wavy black hair, that he wore in the last decade at different lengths ranging from a buzz cut to shoulders length, was almost the same color as Terell’s. The younger man’s hair was tightly curled, and dense, even on his jaw, his limbs and his stomach. Vicente’s beard was kept short, as the lack of hair on his cheeks bottom halves would otherwise quickly show, and he quite enjoyed the youthful look it gave him.
The latino man was also happy in their relationship, although he felt like Terell was drowning himself into work and started becoming less attentive and less romantic. Increasingly more often was Vicente the instigator of date nights of all kinds. He didn’t really mind it, he thought, as Terell’s salary allowed them to increase to this new apartment, and he understood how being successful was important to the black man. He had to compromise and adapt to the ever-changing balance of their house chores, sure, but he feared that they forgot to stop and think about other things. Important and serious things such as marriage, or adopting a kid of their own. All his friends were hitched and with toddlers, and they started getting invited for the weddings of some of Terell’s friends as well.
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"Have a good day, Vi."
Terell planted his lips on Vicente’s. His boyfriend hold his head in one hand, caressing it with the tip of his finger and broke the kiss just as Terell reached for Vicente’s firm butt.
"I gotta go, Terry. Take care."
Vicente gave his man a quick peck and left. As the door closed, Terell walked to his office, where he looked for a reference book he had, only to realize about twenty minutes later that he lent it to a coworker in Colorado who never returned it. With a grunt, he got to put his jacket on and went to a nearby library. Perhaps with any luck he could find a copy there. Otherwise, he’d have to order one online.
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The engineer had come back home. He couldn’t find the book he was looking for, but the librarian was kind enough to guide him to other reference manuals that could be of interest for him. Unbeknownst to them, though, she mistakenly gave him her magical book in the process. As of now, no one was the wiser. Terell was working on a model, flipping through the pages of the first book on the pile he brought home.