James hovered over his work bench, looking down at the 3D map his daughter had been building for social studies. The map of Ancient Greece was supposed to map out the war path of the Peloponnesian War. James’s daughter, Hailey had spent all day obsessing over the map; even though it was nearly complete and wasn’t due for another week. She was anxious; in her mind early was on time, on time was late, and late was unacceptable. As James tinkered with the little toy soldiers on the hills and in the valleys, his phone buzzed, letting him know he had a notification. Without taking his attention away from what he was doing, he slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Then, raising the phone, he finally tore his gaze from the map to look at the screen. Unlocking it, he saw that he had a text from his husband, Adam. 

‘I wanna come home.’ The message read. 

James stared at the device for a moment, cracks forming in his heart as he read it. He wanted Adam home too; but the safety of their children trumped any preference James had. 

‘You have a program to finish.’ James typed out.

He sighed heavily, dropping his phone onto his work bench after hitting send. He loathed texting. Tone couldn’t be heard through text and that left room to be misunderstood; James hated being misunderstood. His phone pinged with another message, and James quickly flipped the device over to check it. 

‘I know, I know. I hope my missing you doesn’t make you feel bad or guilty. I just keep thinking I’m gonna lose you.’ Adam’s message read. 

James turned his back to his work bench and leaned against it. Holding his device, he read and reread the message over and over again. James knew exactly where Adam’s mind was. In Adam’s head, everything was his fault and therefore he deserved to lose everything. 

‘I couldn’t leave you even if I tried. You’re my home baby. ‘ James texted back, throwing in a smiley face and a wink. 

The last thing he wanted was for his husband to be stressing over problems that didn’t exist. 

He needed, and wanted more than anything, for his husband to get healthy; and that wouldn’t happen if Adam was constantly stressing about the status of their marriage all the time. 

Running upstairs, James headed into his and Adam’s bedroom and over to Adam’s side of the bed. Pulling back the covers, he snapped a photo of Adam’s side and sent it to him. 

‘This is still our bed and I can’t wait to cuddle the shit out of you when you get home.’James’ message read. Adam hearted the message but didn’t reply; he probably had to run off to group therapy or something. 

So setting his phone down, James climbed into bed and grabbed Adam’s pillow. The Calvin Klein cologne that  Adam usually wore clung to the pillowcase causing James to squeeze it tightly to his chest and breathe in deeply. Closing his eyes, James fell into a dreamland where he and his husband weren’t thousands of miles apart. 

I hope you’re enjoying these short stories that are peppered in with the series. If this is your first time reading a Royal Blue story, have a look around and read some more queer stories. New stories are posted every Wednesday and sometimes on Monday’s too. 

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