Marsh and Walker :)

His heart has been racing ever since the wedding. Even through the after party and dinner, Walker couldn't manage to calm himself down. Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, he ran his shaking hands through his hair and sighed. He was stressed. So unbelievably stressed, and it was honestly all his fault, too.

He'd agreed to spend the night in Marsh's den. The one the man had spent days making for them, but now...

You need to calm down. He hasn't changed. He's still a good bear. You're still okay with him touching you. It will just be a little more.

He couldn't lie to himself. It was going to be a lot more.

Grabbing his hair tightly, Walker shook his head as he groaned quietly.

You just need to walk out of here and go do it. No more procrastinating and panicking.

He shoved all of his insecurities and overactive emotions down into the pit of his thankfully-empty stomach and turned toward the door.

You can do this. It's just physical contact. Just touching. You're still going to be the same person afterward.

Clenching his jaw to try and distract his already-wandering mind, Walker grabbed the door handle and yanked it open, nearly making it slam against the other wall before he caught it at the last moment.

Sighing, he let go of the door and looked out into the hallway. Of course, no one was there and the house was completely quiet. Only a small hall light was plugged in near the far end, providing just enough light for him to walk around without having to worry about tripping on his own feet.

Marsh had said that he was going to get changed in their room a while ago, so, not wanting to waste anymore time, Walker headed there. Thankfully, a faint light glowed and flickered from beneath the door, allowing him to calm down a tiny bit. It was likely that Marsh had left the TV on. He wouldn't be walking into complete darkness on such a stressful night.

He shakily grabbed the door handle and turned it, then made himself push forward before he could hesitate. What he saw in the room made him pause for a moment and furrow his brow in confusion. Marsh was there, of course, but the guy had actually fallen asleep curled up in the middle of the bed... with his suit coat, pants, and shoes still on.

Why do I smell something sweet, too?

With a little more resolve since his husband was currently asleep, Walker stepped inside, but left the door wide open. His brother wasn't home, and likely wouldn't be for quite a few days, at least, so he wasn't worried about anyone else. The TV flickered some random rerun of some older show on mute, its light flashing periodically around the room, casting Marsh in a different, ever-changing rotation of lights.

Walker stopped a few feet away from the bed and simply watched as his love slept. It was an odd feeling being so connected to someone else. He'd honestly never though about getting married, let alone having a family, and while he still wasn't sure if they'd ever adopt, or if Nekosi would possibly be interested in living with them, he couldn't help but feel a little relieved to have found someone like Marsh.

He wasn't a normal person, obviously, but that just made it that much easier to be around him. Walker wasn't blind to how things normally worked in most relationships. His brother was a rather good example of how at least a majority of the male populace chose to find a mate.

Sex now, love later.

I still can't believe Heian managed to get him to settle down.

It was a wonder all in its own.

"Mm, husband?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Walker jumped at the sound of Marsh's suddenly-loud voice in the otherwise quiet room. Thankfully, he didn't seem fully awake yet, and in fact...

"Marsh, did you get into the honey again?" Walker asked as he finally walked over to the edge of the bed the guy was closest to.

Marsh hiccupped once as he pushed himself up.

Oh boy.

"You have honey in your hair, honey," Walker said with a grin at his own bad joke.

Marsh smacked his lips together a few times as he finished waking up, mimicking his bear with the gesture. When he finally seemed ready to function, he looked up at Walker and gave him the sweetest, most adorable smile, squinty eyes and all.

"I'm sorry I ate it all, then fell asleep," he said as his smile changed to a frown and he looked down at his lap.

He knew that he wasn't supposed to eat too much honey, and especially not the stuff that they had to buy, but Walker realized pretty quickly that he was the reason why Marsh had gone on a honey binge.

His stomach twisted back into knots after finally having eased slightly from his partial breakdown in the bathroom, but Marsh could evidently feel his growing stress, because he quickly looked back up with a worried smile as he lifted his hand to rub at the back of his head. Except, said hand immediately paused as it got partially stuck.

"You... how did you get honey behind your head? Your mouth is in front," Walker said in disbelief as he carefully put a knee up on the bed and leaned forward.

"Come on, let's get this suit off. It's going to get ruined if we don't wash it quickly," he said, knowing that they really shouldn't go in the washing machine, but as he helped Marsh out of the sticky clothing, he knew that it would be a lost cause if they waited to take it into town to be cleaned.

I'll just put it in a delicates bag on cold and hope for the best.

Once Marsh was minus his suit and pants, Walker hurried from the room and headed downstairs. He got the laundry going, then stared at the machine for a few tense minutes. He was going to try and give himself another poor pep talk, but when he heard Marsh quietly come downstairs, he froze.

Except, this time, he managed to thaw himself out before he could truly begin to panic. He didn't even allow his mind to begin spiraling and, instead, immediately turned and walked out of the laundry room to greet his sticky husband at the bottom of the stairs.

He... hadn't put any clothes on.

Walker forced himself to ignore that little fact, because honestly, the man was still more bear than human most times. The fact that he wore clothing quite often now was already a pretty big victory.

Heading over to the kitchen, Walker turned on the light, then turned around and felt his jaw drop open.

We... need to do something about that hair.

"Marsh, can I wash your hair in the sink?"

He knew that he should have just taken him to the bathroom, but he just couldn't. Thankfully, his husband didn't seem to mind the sink at all and walked over with a curious smile on his face.

Walker gently guided him to lean over so that he could dampen his hair beneath the warm water, then used the dish soap to scrub out the stubborn sticky goo. He had started out washing his hair from the side, conscious about not touching him too much besides his hair, but as he got more uncomfortable at the odd angle, and with quite a bit more to wash out even after working for a bit, Walker found himself moving partially behind his husband so that he could work better.

He was so focused on making sure he got every last bit of honey out of Marsh's hair that he didn't even realize that he was leaning against the man's back and side until he was finally finished and moving away to grab one of the clean hand towels hanging on the stove door.

The sudden loss of contact gave him pause, but since he was already no longer touching Marsh, Walker's mind didn't bother reacting negatively. As he handed his husband the towel to dry his hair, he continued to go through the previous situation, honestly taken aback by the fact that he didn't mind that the contact had happened. It was in the past, and he hadn't been bothered by it while it was occurring because he had something else to occupy his mind.

Wait a second...

Looking at the towel Marsh was currently using to wipe his face, Walker licked his lips and quickly reached out to take it before he could stop himself.

The look on the other man's face was a bit surprised, but the curiosity from before was also still there. Walker was about to give himself another pep talk, again, but pushed himself past it as he reached forward to begin drying Marsh's hair for him.

It's really matted.

That wasn't too surprising considering he'd practically used honey as a shampoo earlier.

I'm going to need to comb through this mess while it's still a bit damp or it's going to be a nightmare.

The thought actually brought a smile to his lips as he calmly took his time ruffling Marsh's hair with the little towel. He definitely wasn't minding touching his husband's hair with the towel, in the least, and they were honestly right in front of each other. Closer than he was usually comfortable with when concerning the distance he preferred to keep with most people.

Of course, his bear wasn't most people.

His smile widened a bit as he focused inwardly and sent a thought to Marsh.

Touch my shirt.

He knew that it was an odd request, but in true Marsh style, the man didn't mind doing as told in the least. He also did it with such respect and gentleness that Walker barely even felt his fingers as they played with the hem of his T-shirt.

His belly quivered the two brief times it was lightly brushed, but after the second time he was able to disregard the faint pressure since it neither grew in frequency, nor stopped occurring.

By the time Marsh's hair was reasonably dry, Walker was actually still doing fine. Sure, he had a few nerves still bouncing around in his stomach, but compared to the circus of stressed terror from earlier, it was nothing.

Of course, he knew that he shouldn't even be having such issues because he'd managed to kiss Marsh plenty of times, but his mind didn't want to hear logic.

"Husband, my hair is really tangled," Marsh said, snapping Walker out of his thoughts.

"Yeah, it is. Go sit on the couch for a moment. I'll go grab a comb," Walker said as he hurried off to the bathroom.

The tips of his fingers were prickling a bit, as if they were threatening to fall asleep, but he ignored the pins and needles as he grabbed a comb and a little bottle of detangler. He didn't even look in the mirror once before heading back into the living room.

Marsh was sitting cross-legged on the couch with his back to him. Walker calmly sat behind him with one leg tucked beneath him and the other hanging over the edge of the sofa.

"This might hurt a little bit, but I'll try to be as gentle as I can," he said as he began to pick at the knots with his comb.

He heard Marsh giggling nearly right from the beginning, but as he worked on his hair, Walker couldn't figure out what might be funny. Eventually, he leaned away and grabbed Marsh's arm, tugging gently until the guy turned around to face him.

His face is so red...

"Okay, what is it? What did I do?" he asked, a little worried that he'd made a fool out of himself simply by brushing out his husband's hair.

Marsh looked away, clearly contemplating if he should answer or not, but of course, the guy returned his attention to Walker almost immediately. He never kept anything from him. No matter what it was.

"You just said something funny," he said, making Walker furrow his brow and think back to their minimal conversations recently.

It took him nearly two minutes of soul searching before his face began to warm.

This might hurt a bit...

Walker groaned as he pressed a hand to his forehead. Instead of frowning or being upset about his awkward mishap, however, he couldn't help but grin, then give a quiet chuckle, too.

"Would you believe me if I said that I'm secretly a huge pervert and that was totally planned?" he asked as he lowered his hand.

He wasn't really sure what expression he was giving his husband, because he honestly felt a bit goofy for joking around about something that really did stress him out, but really just felt like playing around a bit.

Marsh, being the best bear he could be, took his joke seriously as he looked over his shoulder with a contemplative expression, then slowly turned to face him with even more thoughts running around in his dark eyes. When he finally decided on a response, Walker was practically sitting on pins and needles... though he wasn't sure why. It was just a childish joke he'd felt like saying spur of the moment, but for some reason he felt like he needed to hear Marsh's honest response.

"I would absolutely not believe you," he said honestly, making Walker crack up a bit as he reached up with the comb and began working on Marsh's tangled hair.

They both remained silent as he got through it at a reasonable pace, but about halfway through Marsh licked his lips and glanced up at him through his bangs.

"Can I still touch your shirt?"

Walker immediately froze at his husband's question, but before he could work himself up, he nodded and got back to work so that he had something to focus on and distract himself a bit.

"You can," he said as he worked.

Marsh wasted no time in doing as he'd requested. It tickled a bit whenever he felt the man's fingers brush against his belly or abs through his shirt, but he didn't mind. Heck, he honestly didn't mind the man touching him once in a while when his shirt was off, but tonight was such a different situation...

"It doesn't have to be different," Marsh said quietly as he looked up to meet Walker's eyes as they lowered to his.

He was technically right. Even if it was there wedding night, it didn't have to be different.

"But it does, Marsh," he whispered as he stopped combing his husband's hair and honestly looked him in the eyes.

"I want this night to be special, Marsh. You're my husband and you even dug us a den for our honeymoon," he stated sternly but gently, finally showing his upset at his own internal struggles.

The man sitting in front of him mulled over his words for only a moment before giving him a surprisingly-bright smile.

"This day is about both of us, Walker. I married you because I really like you and I want you to be happy. Yes, I would love to lick honey off of your body from head to toe, among other things, but if you're not comfortable with those situations, then I'm not comfortable asking for them from you. I haven't been around humans much in my life, but I know that if you don't want something done to you, then I don't want to do that thing to you."

Wait a minute...

Going back over his thoughts in his mind carefully, Walker realized something that might actually help him get through at least a little bit of his current problem.

"Hey Marsh? What do you think about me touching you?"

His husband didn't hesitate for even a second before he spoke up.

"I love it! Anything Walker wants to do with me is always okay," he said with excess enthusiasm.

It honestly made him feel a bit jealous that the guy was so okay with being touched, but he knew that it wasn't really that simple. Marsh was a good bear, sure, but a nice bear? Not really.

Not unless you're me.

The adorable, yet handsome, cute, and beautiful guy sitting right in front of him, wiggling here and there out of excitement for possible attention, was his bear.

With a nervous yet curious smile, Walker set the comb in his hand aside and then reached back up to settle his hand on top of Marsh's damp hair.

Marsh looked absolutely ecstatic for the simple head pat, making a mix of emotions well up in Walker's chest. Some were bad and chastised him for waiting so long to touch his husband after their nuptials, while others were just excited to not be super stressed about basic contact... at least, when he still intended to move things further than normal.

I need to ask him to do something that he might not want to, though.

"Ask. I'll do anything my husband wants me to," Marsh said without hesitation after having caught his thought, his smile never leaving his face as he spoke.

Not wanting to chicken out, because he really did think he actually had something going right then, Walker quickly replied.

"Could you please not touch me until I say it's okay?"

He knew that it sounded pretty rude considering they were literally married now, but Marsh didn't hesitate a second before he responded with a nod and an excited "okay!"

Walker couldn't help but return his energetic smile as he gave his husband's head a few more pats before quickly lowering his hand to settle against the man's cheek. He felt Marsh nuzzle into it immediately, but he was gentle and was being careful not to push against his palm much at all.

So cute...

When Marsh allowed his eyes to close after a minute of nuzzling, Walker felt an odd shiver in his chest that spurred him to do something he normally wouldn't without a little coaxing. He leaned forward and pressed the faintest kiss to Marsh's cheek.

His mind immediately tried to begin walking him through what else he would be okay with and what he should avoid, but instead of trying to talk himself through things, he, instead, gently nudged that voice aside.

Just once, I want to act and not think.

Marsh said that he wouldn't touch him. He trusted his bear. His husband. This was his chance to do everything he'd always thought that he couldn't do because he hated being touched so much.

I can kiss him.

He did so again, leaving his lips against Marsh's warm skin as he focused on steadying his nervous breathing. His mind was being manageable, but he couldn't stop his body from responding the way it was used to.

Thankfully, to his surprise, his hand, which had been a bit shaky when he'd first touched Marsh, had calmed. He didn't dwell on it much, though, because he didn't want to get distracted.

I want to kiss him.

Walker nuzzled his nose gently against Marsh's skin, then pressed his lips to it again before slowly moving downward to kiss along his jaw.

His bear smelled like the woods and, of course, honey. There was also a faint musk that was mostly hidden until he got very close. It was probably just a scent that bear shifters had. And honestly... he kind of liked it right then.

"You smell good," Walker whispered as he pressed his lips to the side of Marsh's neck.

He wanted to press on into the crook of his neck like he'd seen done in movies because it had looked so sweet, but his mind immediately flared with stress, so he took a moment to regroup himself and accept that such a thing would have to wait, and moved on with what he was comfortable with.

He pressed a few more kisses to Marsh's neck before gently guiding his head back upright, then slowly allowing his hand to lower until it rested against his husband's bare shoulder.

Walker noticed that Marsh had filled out even more as his hand settled, and without really thinking about it too much, since that seemed like the way to go right then, he gently squeezed the man's shoulder.

My healthy bear.

He wanted to ask if what he was doing was okay, but Marsh had said that anything he wanted to do was okay with a huge smile on his face, so he pushed away his self doubt and finally moved his mouth over his husband's.

Oh god. He still tastes like honey.

It was the sweetest kiss he'd ever had!

The overly-sweet flavor still on his lips was actually making his stomach turn a bit more and, after a moment, he decided that maybe Marsh wouldn't mind if they didn't kiss too much during this whole situation.

Okay, moving on.

Except, he wasn't really sure where he wanted to move onto. Of course, he could go lower with his mouth, but he didn't want to. His hand, however, wasn't really bothered by being on Marsh's shoulder.

Let's see...

He reached up with his left hand and wrapped his arm around Marsh's shoulders before leaning closer. Their bodies pressed together slowly as his other hand carefully lowered, his fingertips running down along Marsh's warm chest until they got to his waist and meandered behind his back to finally hold him in a careful hug.

Walker took that moment to settle his chin on Marsh's bare shoulder and heave out a long, stressed sigh. His body relaxed bit by bit until, finally, he spoke in the mostly-dark room.

"Can you hug me back?"

He knew that the question was a bit stupid, because obviously, he could, but he'd previously asked Marsh not to touch him. Now, however, he had calmed down a bit and honestly wanted a hug. He thought that he'd earned it, and that he could handle it, so he asked for it.

Of course, his husband didn't hesitate at all, but he did move slowly and didn't hug him as tightly as he normally would.

"Anything for my husband," was his response once his arms had settled around Walker's back comfortably.

Once he was sure that Marsh was content with the situation, Walker slowly began guiding him backwards. He removed one of his hands to help steady himself as he worked on completing the action, then settled it next to where Marsh's head ended up resting against the couch cushion.

Walker pressed his forehead against the man's collar-bone for nearly a minute once they'd gotten situated to calm himself down a bit, but something just wasn't sitting right with him.

He didn't really mind feeling the other man's body beneath his, pressed closely against his own in several places, as much as he thought he would... but still. Something didn't feel quite right.

"Husband?"

Leaning up on his arms, Walker looked down at Marsh as the silent television flashed flecks of light against the right side of his gently smiling face.

"Yes, Marsh?" he asked, a little nervous that he might be doing something wrong. He wasn't exactly one to watch perverted things, nor had he even thought about looking up some information before attempting this situation.

Of course, he knew the absolute basics, but he'd never cared to investigate further upon them.

"Would you be okay with switching our positions for a few minutes?"

Switching?

He... was confused.

"You said you were okay with not touching me," Walker said quietly, beginning to feel guilty that he'd set such an unfair stipulation.

Marsh didn't seem upset, though. He was still smiling when he replied.

"I won't do anything you don't want me to do. I promised that right off the bat. I just think that you might be more comfortable if we switched, but I still love everything you're doing and am willing to keep things the way they are if you're more comfortable," he said honestly.

Furrowing his brow, Walker considered thinking it over seriously, but before he could go down that rabbit hole, because he knew he might not be able to crawl out of it well enough to continue what they were doing, he carefully moved off of Marsh.

As he settled onto his side, his husband pushed himself up and then moved onto his knees so that Walker could take his place. It was a bit embarrassing how long it was taking him to just make his body move into the position Marsh had been in, but, much to his relief, he managed it after only a little internal struggling.

Instead of moving overtop of him immediately, Marsh offered him another warm smile that crinkled the edges of his beautiful eyes, then spoke.

"Can I pat my beautiful husband's hair?"

My hair?

He... didn't really mind that. It wasn't touching any of his more triggering areas.

"Yeah, okay," Walker replied.

He watched as his husband slowly lowered himself until his lighter body was comfortably settled over his own. When Walker didn't say anything or withdraw his agreement for Marsh to touch his hair, his husband propped himself up with a bent arm on his chest, then reached around the side of Walker's face to settle his hand against his soft hair.

"Is this okay?" Marsh asked after a few minutes of calm, quiet attention.

Walker was grateful for those few minutes. They allowed him to calm his rapidly beating heart and steady his breathing. They also allowed him to realize something that he hadn't thought about previously.

Yes, he'd cuddled with Marsh before, but never like this.

The man had fallen asleep on his chest several times since they'd known each other... but like this?

Walker swallowed and lifted his gaze to meet Marsh's. He could feel the man breathing against him. Feel the heat of his body through his clothing where they were pressed together in more than just a few places. It wasn't just his chest or a leg that had some added weight on it.

Feeling his face warm, Walker swallowed again and nervously lowered his eyes a little.

"It's okay."

He wasn't sure what Marsh thought of his quiet answer, but the man didn't seem to mind him averting his eyes or taking a bit to respond. Instead, he calmly began running his fingers through Walker's soft hair. Taking his time and enjoying giving the attention as their bodies simply breathed against each other and shared warmth.

It was actually really, really nice. The only hand that was doing any touching was Marsh simply sifting his fingers through his hair slowly.

There are no other hands touching.

His eyes widened as he finally began putting the pieces of his internal puzzle together.

I'm okay with him lying on me. It's rarely been an issue after first couple times.

"Hey Marsh? Can you, um, press your hips down?" he asked, going straight for the more personal problems he had.

He needed to know if what he was thinking was actually correct.

The expression on his husband's face was definitely surprise, but the man didn't hesitate to do as told. The action sent a wave of butterflies through Walker's system, but that was it.

There was no shivers from stress. Nor were there any thoughts about dreading the action or the what-ifs that would clearly come after such a thing.

Nothing.

With a cautious but hopeful smile, Walker reached up and gently settled his left hand beneath Marsh's shoulder-blades.

Nothing negative. Just more butterflies.

"Again," he whispered as he hugged his husband closer pressed his nose against his shoulder to nuzzle the spot.

Marsh obliged without a word.

More butterflies.

He also felt a tiny hint of something else as his heart sped up, but not in a stressful way, for once. It matched the pace he felt from Marsh's. An excited, yet careful, hum.

"Again, please," Walker said as he wrapped his right arm around Marsh's lower body, grasping his warm skin at the same time the man pressed down again with his hips.

This time, however, Walker was determined to meet him halfway, except, his timing left something to be desired. It... was pretty embarrassing. To be honest, though, he hadn't thought that he could even get this far, and he definitely hadn't thought that he'd be beneath Marsh and trying to push upward.

"If my Walker would like, you can set a pace that you like and I could match it?" Marsh suggested, making Walker lean his head back to the cushions in order to look up at his man.

He couldn't really think of a reason to say no, because he was honestly still quite comfortable, so he licked his lips and gave a slight nod.

"Alright, I'll try," he said before nervously beginning to move his hips against his husband's.

He really did feel like a bit of a joke, because he couldn't even get into a tempo without beginning to already pant, but the only thing Marsh said as he began to match him as best he could, were little whispers of encouragement and compliments about how amazing his husband was.

Walker actually got really into their sloppy rhythm as time went on, finding that he didn't mind the growing feelings they were creating between themselves. The entire time, though, Marsh seemed affected but also determined to stay leaning on his left arm to keep at least a tiny fraction of his weight off of Walker's chest as his hand remained tangled in his hair.

His forehead was resting against his collar-bone and little puffs of breath warmed Walker's skin every few moments as they worked each other up until, finally Walker felt his muscles tense and he unintentionally wrapped his legs around Marsh's waist as he groaned and felt himself release.

His orgasm was extended a few moments longer as Marsh continued gently thrusting against him, only slowing when Walker's legs loosened and fell from around his waist.

"My husband is so beautiful."

Blinking out of his daze, Walker slowly looked up at Marsh pushed himself up farther onto his arms since he'd been released from Walker's hug once he'd climaxed.

The extra space was appreciated. It allowed Walker to assess the situation, but not overthink it. His body was humming with contentment, but he knew that his husband hadn't gotten the same affect. At least, not yet. He could definitely feel the man's hard length still pressing against him, but it didn't bother him at all.

He wants you.

Walker considered how he wanted to go about relieving his husband, but in the end, there was still only one thing he wanted to do. It was his wedding night. It was their wedding night.

I want to try it. I really, really do.

"Marsh, could you lift yourself off of me a bit, please?" he asked with a bit of a raspy tone to his voice.

The other man immediately did as told, allowing Walker to reach down and tug off his own pants and underwear. He let them fall to the floor before considering flipping over to make it easier on Marsh. Except, he couldn't. His mind, which had been relatively quiet for their previous bout of attentions, flared to life with warning bells. He needed to see what the man was doing.

Looking back up at his husband, Walker couldn't help but smile gently.

"Come back down, please."

Marsh did as told and didn't even question him about removing his own remaining bit of clothing. Once he settled back down, Walker didn't hesitate to lift his hands to the man's back again, but he wasn't interested in cuddles. At least, not yet.

Instead of remaining still and hugging Marsh, his hands steadily moved down his back until they came to the hem of his boxers.

I know he loves me, so much, but I want to make him love me more. I want to make love to my husband.

He slid Marsh's boxers off of the man's hips, then allowed him to kick them off before he gently settled himself back down on top of him. The sheer heat that came from his husband warmed Walker's body and began to make him pant again at just the thought of building up even more heat.

Before he let himself give Marsh the okay, Walker reached over to grab a tiny tube of something beneath the top glass panel of the coffee table. He quickly offered it to Marsh, but then withdrew his hand before the man could take the item.

Don't mess up. No hands.

He felt bad for it, but Marsh just smiled when he took the tube back, so he didn't take it to heart.

Okay, let's get this going, he thought as he reached over with his other hand and unscrewed the cap. It really was a pathetically tiny tube of lube, because he honestly didn't think that he'd ever be able to use it, so he hadn't wanted to waste money.

Just that thought made him chuckle as he squeezed practically all of it into his palm, then reached down between them. He felt Marsh's belly shiver as his knuckles brushed past it as the man lifted his body up a little to give him room, and honestly felt good about it.

He's actually nervous, too.

"I am. I love my husband and I want to do everything right, but I've been a bear for so long that I don't think that I'm always going to do the right thing," Marsh said as he stared down at him with his beautiful dark eyes.

Walker swallowed and licked his lips before replying as he looked up, while at the same time gently massaging the lube against his opening with trembling fingers. But for once, those fingers weren't shaking from nerves or stress.

"Neither of us are ever going to be perfect. We'll just have to take things one step at a time and talk through anything that becomes an issue. We'll have to be open, just like how we are right now," he said as he finally removed his slick fingers and began lifting his hand back up toward his chest.

Instead of completing the journey, however, he allowed his wet fingers to brush against Marsh's hard length, surprising his husband enough to make him gasp and blush deeply, even in the dimly-lit room.

The abrupt reaction actually put a crooked smile on Walker's face as he hesitated lifting his hand further.

I kind of want to...

Without asking, because they'd gone over their individual boundaries several times already and Marsh had been extremely clear that he wanted any kind of attention he was willing to give, Walker carefully wrapped his fingers around his husband's length.

Its heat and stiffness made his heartbeat begin to hammer against his ribs and, as he gently began to rub his thumb along its smoothness, he couldn't help but feel giddy at the reactions he was getting from Marsh.

The man was panting in moments, his entire body shivering as he stared down at him with hooded, hungry eyes.

I'm doing this to him.

It was a pretty big boost for his self-esteem and self-confidence because he was making Marsh look at him in such a way. He was making his body shake with need.

"Come here, love," he finally said as he reached up with his free hand and coaxed the man back down to settled mostly overtop him.

The only place they didn't meet yet was between their legs, where he was gently guiding Marsh's length to where they both wanted it. His heart pounded hard against his ribs as he pressed the tip against his opening. Instead of letting go at that point, however, he nervously hugged Marsh to him with his free arm.

"Go ahead," he said quietly.

Marsh didn't seem to mind at all that Walker was still holding his length and immediately began to do as told. He was extremely gentle even though Walker could feel the man's own heart thundering in his chest where theirs pressed together.

Thankfully, the lube worked well and Walker wasn't too uncomfortable as his husband carefully pressed himself inside, but then stopped about partway.

Ah, my hand...

He was still holding him.

"Is this okay?" Marsh asked in a voice so hungry with need that it sent a set of heated shivers down Walker's spine.

It was. He hadn't been sure that he'd ever be able to get so far with anyone, ever, but the slightly aching stretch in his backside didn't bother him. In fact, he liked the sensation of his husband pressing inside him.

"Yes," Walker replied as he finally released Marsh's length, then moved his hand to the man's backside as he lifted his own legs to wrap around his waist.

Before his husband continued pressing inside Walker reached up with his free hand and gently pressed it against the man's cheek.

"Lick your lips a few times, love. You're too sweet for me right now, but I want to kiss you while I love you," he said honestly, making Marsh immediately lick his lips like a honey-crazed bear right after hibernation.

Needless to say, when Walker brought his love's head down to press their smiling lips together this time, he didn't taste like a literal bottle of honey.

Much better, my sweet bear.

Marsh growled in response as he began pressing his hips forward again, easily sliding inside of him until he was contently filled. Walker didn't wait for the other man to build up a rhythm this time. He gladly took the lead, still sloppy with his timing, but neither of them cared. They would have time to learn each others bodies and preferences another time. Tonight, they just wanted to be together in every way they could, and enjoy their first night as husbands.

Walker came first again, but Marsh followed soon after with a second growl before he settled down on Walker's chest. They were both panting heavily and Walker was honestly a bit embarrassed that they had finished so early, but when he saw his husband's happy, content smile as he panted on his chest, his worry was swept away in an instant.

He's really happy.

"I am. I have my Walker and I got to love him. I am the happiest bear in the world," he stated as Walker chuckled a tiny bit and grinned up at him as he wrapped his arms tightly around his husband.

"Thank you for picking me, Marsh. I love you, my sweet bear," he whispered against the man's lips gently.

Marsh's grin widened against his mouth as he returned the kiss.

"Thank you, Walker, for kidnapping me when we first met."

Ah...

"You're... welcome?" Walker said before they both burst into fits of laughter.