POV Takao

From Tokyo to Toronto to New York I had plenty of time to practice my English on native speakers and I was pleased to find that not only did I understand everyone I spoke to, but I was understandable as well.

With one last flight between me and Shin-chan I stood in the bustling airport.

"Is there a pay phone?" I asked the attendant behind the desk at my gate.

"No, sir," she said, and went back to her computer terminal without looking at me.

"Cellphone battery dead, darling?" the woman in a wheel chair next to the desk said. "I hate these things. Every time you really need them there's no service or the batteries run down."

Her accent was thick and it took me, jet lagged as I was, a little longer to hear her words.

"No service," I confirmed. "It only works in Japan."

"Oh my, you're a long way from home, darling."

"Very much so," I said. "I've been traveling since Thursday morning. This is my last flight," I said, falling into the seat next to her.

"Your English is very good," she said.

"Yours too. I can understand you well."

She laughed and pulled her cellphone from her purse.

"That call you need to make, would it be a local one?"

"No," I shook my head. "New York. I haven't talked to him in two days and I wanted to let him know that I was almost there."

"You visiting your boyfriend?" she asked.

"Moving there to be with him. He came first and now I am joining him."

"Here, as long as you're calling the United States, it's all local to me," she handed over the phone and I almost cried.

"Thank you."

Shin-chan's friends were excited to meet me, but they knew it had been a long time since we have been together, and they left us at the front door. Shin-chan placed my shoes just inside the closet door, and dragged the larger of my bags into the living area. The place was huge, with tall ceilings and it was sparsely furnished, just the way he liked it. I was home. Everywhere I looked, our things mingle with new items. It was thrilling.

I pulled the smaller suitcase in further, and dropped my carry-on bag near the kotasu.

"Let's put this stuff away later," I said. "I want you to take me to bed."

"Of course," he said. "You must be tired after all the traveling. I remember what it feels like."

"No, I want you to take my clothing off and show you how much you missed me," I said.

He didn't stop to ask for clarification. My clothing might have melted off with the speed in which he undressed me. He shoved me against a wall, where I found leverage and I pulled myself up so my legs were around his waist. It was difficult and dangerous going up the stairs like that, but as I ground against him, he found the coordination to get us there alive.

The bed was colossal, and as he gently laid me down in a cloud of soft white, his hands came up to cradled my face. These were long, desperate kisses, the kind that I felt all the way to my toes. I had to scramble to get his clothing off as well. I wanted to touch, to lick, and, to bite, and he let me do it all.

"I can't believe I broke my promise," he said.

"What promise?"

"To never make you wait that long again."

"I will forgive you," I said, as I pushed him down and swallowed him whole. He moaned and his hands crawled through my hair.

"I love the long hair, I thought I wouldn't, but you're gorgeous," he panted. It took no time at all for him to come the first time. I wiped milky white fluid from my chin and it was his turn to throw me down. He had never, in the time we've been intimate, put his mouth on me except in our telephone sex fantasies, but he did not hesitate and it was glorious. I didn't last much longer than he had, but we were only getting started.

His caresses, post orgasm, had me hard again without warning. He was prepared with lotion under the pillow. He slicked me, and even after two months apart, I slid into him like I was meant to be there. I clawed at his chest, playing with those beautiful nipples as he ground down onto me.

"I've missed you, Shintarō. All of you, not just this."

"Baka, of course you have," he said, his words full of teasing and lust.

I may have missed sleep in the last twenty-four hours, but I was wide awake when he found his second orgasm, and came all over my chest. Everything about him was familiar, but different. He had aged, matured in my absence. I knew that that difference also showed in me. Months apart had made us more independent, but strengthened this bond as well.

"Kazunari," he whispered, as he licked the sweat off my shoulder. "Never again."

"Never again," I agreed, knowing how foolish it was. He was an NBA player now, and would be on the road while I was in school, but still it was a promise that never again would we be apart for that long.

He reached up into the pillows again and came back with a small box, much like the one our necklaces had come in. I was still inside him, his passage squeezing me, and he opened the box to show me the two gold bands inside.

"I've filled out the paperwork. We can apply for the license tomorrow. and be married twenty-four hours later. Will you do this? Will you be mine?"

It was so sexy, his body moving on top of me, coaxing me to utter hardness that I almost couldn't respond. I took the box and studied the rings. The kanji for eternity was written across the bands. I groaned as I felt the heat rise in my belly once more. He kept riding me, grinding, and, rolling his hips as he guided me into another orgasm.

"Yes," I gasped as I spilled inside of him, claiming him, once again as my own.

- The End... for now... -

Author's notes:

And with Midorima and Takao reunited, Partners is at an end. *sobs* I wrote this story over the course of five months, and it feels like they've lived inside my head (and heart) the entire time. If you've journeyed this far with me, I hope you will take a moment to review (and possible favorite) the story. It would be a great encouragement to me as I begin writing the sequel. Partners 2 will combine this story line and the story begun in Priorities, bring all the characters together. If you haven't read Priorities, I encourage you to do so. If you like the Point Guard Poker Players and haven't read Gentlemen, Place Your Bets, I encourage you do read that as well. Look for Partners 2 coming this Fall.

- See you next time,

Kazu