GENRE: Gay Romance
LENGTH: 10,799 words
RATING:

Both Oak and Colin have gone through some rough times lately. Oak wants to give Colin intimacy and support after his hard week. What better way than with a home spa on Colin’s day off? Not to mention there’s a “happy ending” he’s looking forward to ...

Colin can’t believe his luck. He has the most caring and thoughtful husband in the world. A day of pampering is just what he needs, especially when Oak is the one doing the pampering. Every little gesture of affection adds up to the best surprise he could ever hope to get, and Colin is going to make sure Oak knows exactly how much he appreciates him.

EXCERPT:

When Colin got back to his and Oak’s apartment, there was a sign on the door that read Please knock. Bewildered, Colin reached for the door handle, because surely he didn’t need to knock to get into his own home. They weren’t expecting company though. At least Colin wasn’t. He pulled his hand back, stared at the sign for another moment as his exhausted brain tried to process why it was there, then knocked.

Oak opened the door with a smile. “Welcome!” he said. “Glad you could make it today. Please, come in.”

Colin blinked. He was too tired to make sense of this. “O ... kay ...” He stepped over the threshold, glancing down to take his shoes off as he always did when he got home. When he looked up again his attention was immediately drawn to a large menu of some sort tacked to the entry closet door.

It was printed on lilac poster board in a fancy cursive script. There were things listed such as Face Massage, Assisted Nap, and Pedicure. There was a column for prices, but each item apparently only cost 1 Kiss, except the last item, Happy Ending, which had a suggestive wink emoticon instead of a price. At the very bottom of the poster it said, in a plainer font, Complimentary breakfast provided. Colin didn’t realize his mouth was hanging open slightly until he had to swallow. Oak stood off to the side beaming.

“W-What is ...?”

“Welcome to the Home Spa,” Oak said brightly. “We’ve got everything you need to relax and recover from the stresses of the world!” He hadn’t been able to think of a cleverer name or slogan. Several people had made suggestions, but after a while Oak had come to appreciate the simplicity of his placeholders so he kept them. He had used one of his fancier templates for the menu though. He had his friend Laney print it out and bring it over this morning along with everything else they had been amassing at her place. She left not five minutes before Colin got back from his jog. Oak had worried Colin might be too exhausted to stay out his usual half hour, so they had been frantically setting everything up while Oak checked out the window every minute or two to see if Colin had returned early.

Colin glanced past Oak into the rest of the apartment. Several stations were set up wherever there was available space. Most of the listed “services” were things Oak could do with his hands, but he had borrowed a few things, like the foot soaking tub that was by the reclining chair and the manicure/pedicure set at the dining table. Colin furrowed his brow in confusion and concern.

Oak dropped the cheery customer service character. “Well, you said all you wanted to do on your day off was relax, and I’d already been planning on giving you a massage or something, but then your week kept getting worse and worse so my plans got bigger and -- and -- um, we don’t have to do any of this if you’d rather veg out and order food or something.”

After another silent pause that made Oak worry he had gone over the top, Colin broke into a smile. “If I weren’t so sweaty and gross I would hug you. Sorry, I’m ... not firing on all cylinders. Didn’t think I’d need to think much today.” He grinned wider and chuckled. “Looks like that’s because you’ve done all the thinking. This is ... wow. It’s just ... Well, is there an off-menu shower option?”

“There could be,” Oak said, beaming. He winked. “But since it’s a custom order it’ll cost you a little extra.”

Colin’s smile turned mischievous. “Oh, I was planning to tip heavily for it.”