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They were in the kitchen, cleaning up after a late dinner, when Richard decided to turn the radio on and, as fate would have it that song was playing.
“Dance with me.”
Lee turned around, drying his hands on a towel. “You want me to dance with you?”
“That’s what I meant, yes, when I said ‘dance with me’,” Richard said, taking the towel away and tossing it on the counter. “Come on.”
“You know I can’t dance.” Lee leaned back against the sink, folding his arms over his chest.
“You can dance, you just won’t,” Richard corrected. He took one of his Lee’s hands, pulling him to the open space between the island and the refrigerator. “At least not in public, but we aren’t in public.”
“Except for Carl.” Lee nodded toward the dog that looked up from his bowl of water at hearing his name. “See, he is laughing at me already.”
Richard just rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. “Just come here.” He pulled the younger man to him, wrapping his arms tightly about his waist. Lee, grinning, put his arms over Richard’s shoulders, clasping his hands together behind his lover’s head. “I am not asking for a waltz or anything of that nature.”
“Good,” Lee commented good naturedly.
In fact, they didn’t even really move their feet. They just swayed together in place, letting the music guide them, and even after the song ended and another one, a very different one began, they still stayed in sync with each other, their movements not changing to reflect that of the new music playing.
It was as if they were all alone, and time was standing still. Everything around of them just melted away, except for the memory of the tune, floating about them.
Lee rested his forehead against Richard’s and closed his eyes. That truly made him feel as if they were the only two people in existence at that moment. Not even the floor seemed substantial. But this wasn’t a new feeling to him. There were a great many times when he had felt that they were alone, with nothing to interfere with them or their time together. Lee took in a deep breath, held it, and then let it out slowly, content and happy.
Richard nuzzled Lee’s nose with his and Lee smiled. He enjoyed the heat from their bodies between them, the play of muscle. They were standing so close; he could feel Richard’s heart beating and his breath on his face. He could smell the cologne the Englishman wore, but he could also smell his skin, a scent he would know anywhere, and that was just as comforting to him as anything else.
“What are you thinking about?” Richard’s voice, barely a whisper.
Lee hummed before answering. “About how wonderful this feels. About how you flood through me and fill all the empty places.” He shifted his head so he could place a closed mouthed kiss on Richard’s lips. “And this quote keeps popping into my head, but I haven’t got the damnedest idea where it is from.”
“Tell me,” Richard urged.
“True love is two people that will be together until the end of time, who love and cherish one another’s feelings, and thoughts. Two people who are truly and deeply in love and can't stand being apart for so long. Two people who need each other every day, every minute, and every second. The strongest form of love... it is when two people are so in love that their lives are basically symbiotic.”
“Symbiotic,” Richard repeated the word. “Mutually benefiting.” Lee nodded. “That was beautiful, by the way. When we go back to New York and buy our house,” this made Lee chuckle with joy, “I will carve it into the wood at our front door in place of a welcome mat.”
“I’d like that.” Lee could not help smiling when he was happy and to Richard, Lee’s smiles were like sunshine after the storm clouds rolled out. When Lee smiled, it made Richard happy and it made him smile in return. “Would you do something for me?”
“Anything.” It wasn’t just a word. It held a great amount of meaning.
“Tell me you love me and that you will never let me go.”
“I love you, with the very wisps of my soul. And the day I let you go is the day I stop breathing.” It was the sincerest truth Richard could and would ever speak.
“I love you, too.”
And so they swayed, holding each other tightly, to a song that had long since passed, except in the world they called their own where the melody was accompanied by the beating of their hearts.