Blaise is Gay?!

"Wait, you haven't dated anyone at all?" Dillon asked incredulously. "Are you still hung up on me?"

"Nope! I'm actually so stupidly in love with a man that I don't want to date anyone else when I know it's not going to go anywhere."

"That actually makes sense to me," Wyatt stated. "I was like that before I met Dillon - and you can stop already Dill, I'm prepared."

"Why don't you like foreplay more?" Dillon asked with a tone of mild aggravation.

"At the moment, foreplay is just delaying the incredible experience I'm about to have," Wyatt explained.

"Yeah, but, as a fellow bottom, I really don't think you're prepared enough. He barely got two fingers in you," Blaise pointed out.

"That's plenty!" Wyatt insisted. "It'll only burn a little!"

"Ha! Turn around and let me rim you a bit. I'll get some more lube in there and rock your world at the same time," Blaise insisted.

"Actually, I'd like to see that," Dillon said.

Blaise laughed. "Who's got the voyeur kink now?!"

A delighted gasp from Wyatt made Xander think that it was definitely time for him to go to his room and get dressed. And actually, he might want to go outside and intercept his daughter if she came home any time soon. Maybe he should actually take her out to eat - a rare daddy daughter date.

"So if you're really not hung up on me, then who's this straight guy you're in love with?" Dillon asked, his voice a little breathy, as if what he was watching was affecting his breathing.

"Oh come on!" Blaise cried out in mild frustration. "You really have to ask me that?!"

After a moment, Dillon replied. "Oh! Really? Good luck with that man."

"Yeah," Wyatt agreed in a tone that almost sounded high. "Fuck! You REALLY know what you're doing!"

Blaise laughed. "Yeah, well, when I hook up with another bottom, it's actually really fun to just use my hands and tongue on him until he's wrecked and screaming, so I've had a lot of practice."

"Uh! G-g-g-g-g-god! AHHHH!"

"Damn! You got him to cum without even touching his dick!" Dillon exclaimed in appreciation.

"He's definitely prepped now!" Blaise announced. "Since you two are committed, do you use condoms?"

"No need, but if we switch to you, then definitely, so have one in reach please," Dillon suggested.

"No problem!" Blaise agreed.

An indescribable sound suggested that Wyatt was definitely in heaven at the moment. Xander shook his head and went to his room. If he lived to be a hundred, he doubted he'd ever understand Blaise's sex life.

***

"My girlfriend broke up with me," Xander lamented with a heavy sigh.

"What? But things were going so well! What happened?" Blaise asked in concern.

"Remember how I brought her to dinner last month to introduce her to Gabrielle?"

"Yeah?"

"Well," Xander let out another sigh. "Apparently she just couldn't accept the fact that Gabrielle calls you dad too. We talked about it a lot, and I explained that since you've taken care of her since she was a baby, that it just made sense to let her call you that, but... and please don't hate me for this!"

Blaise frowned even deeper than he had been. "Uh... whaaat?"

Another heavy sigh. "She said that no matter what is going on in this house - and she believes me that nothing's actually going on - but... she... doesn't like... gay people. So, it bothers her that I let my daughter be raised by a gay man."

"What the hell?!" Blaise roared in frustration. "What exactly does she think a gay man would DO to a little girl?!"

"Right?!" Xander asked and agreed at the same time. Then he sighed yet again. "But it's something that she couldn't get over, so she gave me an ultimatum: either move out of here and get my daughter away from you, or break up with her."

"OUCH! What a bitch..." Blaise murmured in sympathy.

Xander roared in deep frustration. "Gabrielle is only eight years old! How in the HELL does it help HER to yank her out of the only home she's ever known and away from a man she considers like a second father?! NOT TO MENTION I still have to work all the damn time, so then I'd have to find a sitter or something, and THEN I'd have to worry about a virtual stranger MOLESTING her while I'm at work!!!"

Blaise frowned, puzzled about why Xander would worry about that, but then he realized that women could molest girls, and so, it was probably a valid worry. Not that he thought it would happen, but still, Xander tended to over-worry. The rest of it was definitely valid though.

Sympathetic, Blaise rubbed Xander's back and did his best to offer simple comfort. He was tempted to hug Xander - and had hugged him a couple of times in the past - but he didn't want to even remotely seem like he was hitting on his best friend at such a vulnerable moment.

The doorbell rang, making both of them look toward the door. "Is Gabrielle home? I thought she was spending the night a Graciela's," Xander murmured.

"She is," Blaise confirmed. Then it hit him. "OH! Sorry, I just remembered, I invited a sex friend over tonight. But don't worry, I'll go send him away. Tonight, you and I are going to drink until we pass out!"

Xander chuckled a bit feebly. "It's been a while since I've gotten drunk. I could really USE it at the moment."

"Uh-huh," Blaise agreed.

As stated, he sent his sex friend away with the promise of twice as much fun the next time. Then, he and Xander got completely drunk and went through several stages. First, Xander cried a bit over the fact that his first serious girlfriend in a couple of years had just broken up with him - and for SUCH a stupid reason! Then they giggled a bit as the drunken euphoria hit. After a while, Xander seemed to pass out on the table while Blaise was leaning back in his chair looking at the ceiling.

Until he looked over and saw Xander cradling his head in his arms with his eyes closed and a faint smile on his lips. At times like this, he looked breathtaking. Not handsome or cute or adorable, but... it was an indescribable expression that never failed to grab Blaise's heart and refused to let go.

He reached over and brushed some hair out of Xander's face. This made Xander open his eyes and look at him. "I think I'm sobering up. Should I drink more, or just go to bed and sleep it off?"

"Probably go sleep it off," Blaise stated. "Otherwise you'll REALLY have a hangover in the morning."

"Ugh..." Xander grumbled unhappily. Then he sat up and swayed a bit as he tried to focus on Blaise - which let him know that he was still drunker than he thought. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure, anything," Blaise permitted.

"Who in the hell is this damn straight guy that you keep telling everyone you love so much?"

Blaise tilted his head and gave him a funny look. "Are you seriously asking me that?"

"YEAH! I mean you never said anything about him to me directly, but DAMN! Are you ever chatty in bed, and even though I'm NOT trying to be a pervert, I keep hearing things! And now it's really bugging me! Who the fuck is this guy?!"

Blaise was silent in thought for a moment, before sighing. "Listen Xander, ask me that again when you're sober and NOT crying over a broken heart. I promise I'll tell you, and honestly, I never really thought it was a secret, so..."

"Alright," Xander murmured. "I think I'm gonna go sleep it off after all."

"You go do that, and I promise I'll have breakfast ready for you when you wake up."

"Mm," Xander moaned happily, half wishing that said breakfast would be made before he went to bed. Standing up, he waved goodnight to Blaise.

"Goodnight, love ya!"

"Mmhm," Xander murmured. Five minutes later, he was in bed and passed out.

***

It was almost a year before he remembered that he never did ask that question, but... even so, Xander thought he might have figured it out. Once again, it was because of an overheard conversation during sex.

"How can you stand having a straight guy and his kid living with you?" The current hookup asked.

"Why wouldn't I want them living here?" Blaise wondered in clear confusion.

"Well, doesn't it make it harder for you to invite guys over?"

"Oh sure, now that Gabi is old enough to sort of understand what's going on, I have to be more careful, but she spends the night at her best friend's house at least once a week, and she even goes over to her mom's every other Sunday, so I have plenty of opportunity to have a booty call," Blaise explained.

"And the straight guy never complains?"

"Why would he? He doesn't care that I'm gay!"

"Hold on, can you bend over just a little bit more? This angle is awkward to me."

"Oh, how about I put a couple of pillows under me and... how's that?"

"Ooo, much better. And what about you, am I hitting the right spot?"

"It's down a little," Blaise directed.

"Here? Here?"

"AH!"

"Aha! Here!"

"UH! Mmm!"

"Anyway, you said the straight guy has been living here for like ten years, so you must have tapped that! Is he any good in bed?"

"No!" Blaise exclaimed with a laugh. "I mean no I haven't had sex with him. I have no idea if he's good in bed, but he probably is. He's a construction worker, so he probably has a LOT of stamina."

"Well, why haven't you? I mean, just get him drunk and when he hits the horny stage, let him have his way with you."

"Ha! Don't think I haven't considered it, but no. I love the fuck out of him and don't need to have sex with him. He's my best friend, ya know?"

"Ah. Poor you. You must be a masochist."

"I don't see why, seeing him happy makes me happy and - Ah!Shut up a minute! Ah! Uuuuuuhhhhhh AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Mm! Fuck that's so good!"

Out in the hall, Xander shook his head and muttered under his breath: "Ten years and I still have no idea how he can have such an in depth conversation during sex!"

Then he went to his room and bit his lip in thought. Several facts had suddenly collided in his head to make a sense so profound that he almost couldn't breath for a moment. Fact one, Blaise had ALWAYS told him that he loved him. Like all the time.

"Have a good day, love ya!"

"You're so awesome, love ya!"

"I knew you could do it, you're the best, love ya!"

And so on. Before now, Xander had really just thought he'd meant as a best friend. But then there's fact number two: Blaise continually mentioned being in love (to others) with a straight guy, but he NEVER hung out with ANYONE long enough to maintain a love - not even a one sided one. So, this couldn't really be a different friend who was straight that he met up with regularly, because if it was, he had to be doing it so secretly that Xander never noticed, and seriously, WHEN did he have time to do so? He worked from home while Gabrielle was in school, then took care of her (and the house) until Xander got home, and after that, he still sometimes worked a couple of hours at night at the bar he'd been bartending at ever since college. Sure, there were those times when he hooked up with someone and didn't come home, but he was always honest about that and it never sounded like the same person twice. Or well, infrequently enough that it wasn't worth mentioning he'd seen him before.

Which sort of led to fact number three: what man let his best friend live with him for ten years without expecting anything in return - other than paying half the bills. And HELL! Even went so far as to RAISE HIS DAUGHTER!

Yeah... that HAD to be love.

Xander rested his head in his hands and wondered how in the hell he'd managed to NOT NOTICE something so obvious for an entire decade? There was oblivious, and then there was so fucking oblivious that he might as well be wearing rocks over his eyes. He sighed and shook his head.

"I'm a dumbass..."

Still... it's not like he could do anything about it. He was, after all, straight. He couldn't even imagine having gay sex, despite having heard it happen enough over the years to have a pretty good idea about how it worked. So... he more or less had no choice but to keep his mouth shut and let Blaise keep on doing what he was doing.

***

When Gabrielle turned 16, they threw her a big party for all their family and her friends. To their surprise, she had a lot more friends than they thought. Even so, it was a fun event that ended up in a giant sleepover out in the backyard.

Afterwards, she went to spend a couple of days at her mom's house. Now that her mom had achieved her goals, she'd gotten married a couple of years back and had two little boys that Gabrielle loved to dote on. All in all, Gabrielle never once felt like she'd missed out on having a mother.

Meanwhile, Xander was pacing his room as he thought about something so scary that he was literally nauseous. His pacing wasn't quiet - as the floor creaked quite a bit - and also, he occasionally heaved as his stomach protested his anxiety. It was enough to attract Blaise's attention.

"Hey," Blaise said as he poked his head in Xander's room. "Are you alright?"

"Uhhh...." Xander droned, swallowing down bile once again.

Blaise frowned. "Uht-oh! I haven't seen you like this since Brenda got pregnant with Gabrielle - WAIT! Are we having another baby?!?!"

"Uh," Xander murmured, not quite sure how to take that. "Doooo you want another baby?"

"I mean, well, I'm gay and not likely to have one on my own, so I kinda hoped you'd knock another woman up at some point, but I DO understand that it probably wouldn't have worked out as well as it did with Brenda."

"Uh... hmm... Sooorry? I never really managed to get with a woman long enough to consider having kids with her, and as far as I know, no accidents happened either," Xander apologized, feeling a bit weird about doing so.

"Alright," Blaise accepted with a soft smirk. "So, if it's not a baby, then WHAT has you so wound up?"

"I, um... Well... I kinda, um... sorta... have something I, um, want to ask you."

"Uuuh-huh..." Blaise replied, now a bit hesitant himself.

"So, um, well, you see, it's like this, I um, you know, like, sorta, um, well, it's hard to explain," Xander rambled, rubbing the back of his neck and staring at his feet.

"So I'm noticing," Blaise said with a concerned frown. "Come on, it can't be that bad. Wait! Are you... moving out?" The hurt and horrified expression on his face left no doubt in Xander's mind just how he felt about that idea.

"No!" Xander hastily assured him. Then he pulled a small black velvety box out of his pocket and thrust it in Blaise's hands. "Willyoumarryme?!"

"What???" Blaise asked in confusion, staring at the box and unable to comprehend what was going on. "Are you planning to ask a woman to marry you?"

Xander heaved and pressed a hand to his stomach as he took a couple of deep breaths. "Will. You. Marry me?"

Blaise took a step back in his shock. "What???"

Still needing to take deep and purposeful breaths, Xander did his best to explain. "Look, I understand why you're confused. I personally am terrified! But it's like this... um... Well, so, for the last 16+ years, we've lived together and done basically everything together. Hell! We raised a kid together! And... I know... I mean I finally figured it out, that, well, you... love me..."

Blaise gave him a rather sarcastic look. "Oh really, you don't say."

"So... I've thought about it. I've actually thought about it for about six years now," Xander grumbled before clearing his throat. "And... I realized that I love you too. I mean WHY ELSE would I stay with you for so long? Even after I started making enough to afford my own house and HELL! I practically OWN the company now and could BUILD my own house! But I never once thought about leaving you, because... I... do. I love you and I want to grow old together with you. So, let's get married!" And now that he'd managed to get the terrifying words out, he was rather excited.

"Uh..." Blaise was at a bit of a loss. "Um... Well I can't just say yes, because even though you are right that I love you and want to stay together for the rest of our lives, marriage isn't really necessary."

"Why not?" Xander asked, more curious than upset.

"Because I'm NOT going to marry anyone unless I am certain that it's not only mutual love, but also - there's no delicate way to say this - sexual. I have a fairly high sex drive, even though I'm nearing forty, and I'm not going to marry someone who doesn't want to have sex with me," Blaise explained rather bluntly.

Xander blushed and looked away. "Yeah, I sort of figured that. It's why it took me so damn long to decide that I wanted to do it. I... had to really search my soul and ask myself if I could do it, and... I'm pretty sure I can."

Blaise rolled his eyes. "A straight guy doesn't just turn gay because he fell in love with a man. That's a fantasy propagated by pornos."

Xander sighed and nodded. "I get that, but I also think that sexuality is a spectrum. Even if I'm 99 percent straight, there's still that tiny little one percent that wants you. And you know, who's to say that I'm not actually Bi? I never really did anything about it, but I've had fantasies about having sex with a man over the years. Hell! There were a couple of times when I was tempted to sign up for that app you use simply because the one I used to get women was always rather hit or miss, and it seemed like you never had a lack of partners willing to screw you. It kinda... appealed to me? At times when I was horny and alone."

Blaise now had a rather flat expression on his face. "Uh-huh. And so, what? You can't get women, so you're going to turn gay?"

Xander held up his hands and waved them side to side as he shook his head. "No, that's not what I'm saying! I'm saying that even though I've never tried anything, I've THOUGHT about it, and now that I've accepted this about myself, I'm open and ready to return your love."

Blaise sighed and sat down on Xander's bed. "Look, we've actually got a really good thing going here. I'm NOT going to risk messing things up now."

Xander sat next to him and grabbed hold of his hand. "How would things get messed up?"

Blaise growled softly in light frustration. "Sometimes you can be SO dense! Setting marriage aside, let's say we tried dating and a couple of months from now, you realize that you just can't do it after all. At that point, breaking up would break my heart! Worse! Not only would I lose the love of my life, but I'd lose the only daughter I'm ever gonna have! I can't go through that just because you suddenly realized that you're getting older and don't want to be alone anymore!"

Xander nodded in understanding. "Point taken, but also, consider this: we both already just said that we want to spend the rest of our lives together, and if we were a straight couple, we'd have been considered legally married a long time ago. So - in another 15 or 20 years, do you REALLY want to look back and see that we've stayed together exactly like we are? Wouldn't you rather spend those years cuddling and listening to each other breathe while we sleep?"

"..." Blaise didn't really know how to respond to that.

"I said it a couple of minutes ago, but this ISN'T just a phase I'm going through. It's not a whim, and it's NOT a desperate attempt to avoid loneliness. I have thought this over for six years and I've decided - completely and with my whole heart - that I want you. I love you. And I want to marry you."

Blaise sat silently staring at the little box in his other hand for a few moments. Eventually he sighed. "I'm not convinced. I mean I know you are a serious person who wouldn't say any of this if you didn't mean it, but you also said that you've never actually been with a man. So what if you try it - really give it your best - and ultimately realize that every part of you belongs to me, you just can't have sex with me. Then what? We just go back to 'normal?' At that point, 'normal' would hurt too much."