Page 14 of Expanding Command

Tristan's mouth opened, then closed again, shaking his head. "He looks... no, he can't be..."

"Tristan?" Leander asked, more concerned.

Tristan swallowed visibly, then gave a slow nod. "I... think I know him. Miles Bennet."

Leander tried to remember if his husband had ever mentioned the name before. "I'm sorry... who?"

Ahead of them, both men turned, catching sight of them. Muscles - Miles? - stared at Tristan with the same kind of puzzled recollection. He moved closer. "Have we... met before?"

"Miles." The unfamiliar name left Tristan's lips again, followed by a surprisingly bittersweet smile. "It's been a while since we... I was sixteen the last time we saw each other."

Miles's face lit up with recognition. "Little Tristan Chase." Then he was crossing the drive, pulling Tristan into his arms without hesitation.

Leander was distracted from the mystery of their recognition by how incredibly sexy they looked together.

He'd admired the sub's - Miles's - physicality during their performance, of course, strong and built and very well-kept. But Darren was as tall as Leander and very nicely kept, too, so he hadn't provided much contrast. Tristan, however, slight and short, seemed even smaller in Miles's strong embrace. As he wrapped his arms around Miles's neck, Leander's mind produced a wealth of lurid fantasies of Miles picking him up entirely and carrying him off to have his kinky way with him.

Darren caught Leander's gaze with a smile. "Hello again, Leander. This is my husband, Miles. It seems we might have more of a connection than we thought?"

"So it seems...." Leander looked at Tristan, then Miles, then back again. He forced himself to firmly push away all the incredibly arousing fantasies of everything he and Darren had talked about. If they had a history, he'd have to tread more cautiously.

"It's nice to officially meet you both. This is my husband, Tristan. Do you two know each other?"

Miles nodded. He drew away from the embrace, unexpectedly stiff as his eyes slid away from Tristan. "Tristan was close with my younger brother before he died. We... lost touch."

"...Yeah," Tristan agreed after a moment, Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed.

There was old pain there, Leander could see, as well as something else. Some kind of... regret? He let a hand rest at the small of Tristan's back.

"Perhaps we should catch up somewhere more private?" Darren offered. Unmasked, the gentle confidence in his smile was even more unmistakable. The butterflies Leander had been fighting the entire time they'd been in the garden took flight again, making his stomach somersault.

He rarely got nervous after all his life experience, but between how incredibly sexy Darren was and finally having a chance to maybe get what they'd been wanting for so long, the stakes couldn't be higher. Whatever still sat between Tristan and Miles, he had to believe that it would be a good thing. He'd do his best to make sure it was.

"We'd like that very much, Darren."

~~~

Tristan Chase-Morgan

Falling in love with Miles had been inevitable.

Not in love, Tristan reminded himself, irritated that his mind had jumped to amplify the memories of his youth into some ridiculous romantic trope. It had just been a crush. Tristan had been barely fourteen when they'd first met, only beginning to even discover his own sexuality. It had been a stupid teenage crush on a safely unattainable older boy.

And yet, looking across the table at Miles over cups of decaf espresso at their kitchen table, Tristan knew it had been more than that.

"How've you been?" Miles asked, with the same gentle kindness he'd always shown him. "Still into the sciences?"

"A bit," Tristan said, his smile wry. "We moved to Boston so I could run my own research lab at Harvard, although we're a startup now, thanks to Leander." He smiled at his partner with a rush of affection and pride. "I met Miles because his brother, Keith, was the only kid my age in the advanced science courses in summer school. Miles was on chauffeur duty for our carpool."

Meeting Keith had been such a joy. In previous years, summer school had always been about focusing on the class work and hoping that the rest of the students, older than him, would just let him learn instead of assuming that he'd be dumb and useless because he was younger. He'd finally had a collaborator in Keith. Then Miles had shown up to pick Keith up - blond, heart-stoppingly handsome, and so immediately kind and respectful. Realizing that Tristan's new house was close enough to Miles and Keith to carpool, and that he'd be seeing a lot more of this handsome older boy, had changed his world in ways he'd never expected.

Tristan was still amazed that he'd managed to get past tongue-tied shyness to even have a conversation with Miles.

They'd done things together after school, too. Sometimes with their younger sister, Ashley, or some of Miles's friends along for the ride, though none had ever been as hunky as Miles was. But part of that hunkiness had been how Miles immediately stood up to anyone who questioned his younger brother's presence, or intelligence, or anything. He was unquestioningly protective of him, and Tristan by extension as well.

For the first time, there was someone other than his parents who wasn't questioning what he wanted to learn or if he was capable; on the contrary, Miles treated them both as if they were

as capable as any of his other friends. Sometimes more so. Even when they started school in September - both freshmen, while Miles was a junior - Miles was still their carpool and visible protection. Tristan didn't miss how in those crucial first weeks of September, Miles or his friends were somehow present exactly when they needed to be, making sure the other kids knew that these two young boys were scholars, not nerds. Making sure they were protected from the kids that would have 'othered' them.