He stretched his arm toward the coffee table, not quite reaching his soda. His hand fell slack to the floor. He sat up, turned off the TV, grabbed his drink, and headed towards the kitchen.

He opened the refrigerator and grabbed a beer. Thank Lance. At least he could get drunk. That would at least be something.

He swilled about half the beer in one gulp and grabbed another out of the fridge. He walked out to the back porch and flopped down on his favorite adirondak chair.

Too bad he didn't have cigarettes, too. Drinking and smoking. That sounds like a party to me.

He finished off his first beer and his thoughts turned to his lover. His lover who was painfully absent at the moment. Lance was probably shopping for his birthday present, though. Justin smiled and wondered what Lance would think of this year.

If he had taken Joey's suggestion, he would be lining up the Chippendales for tonight. Not likely though. The only man he wanted to look at was Lance.

He looked across the yard and notice that his new puppy was digging in the rosebushes. The dog had been a present from Joey and Chris -- it was a Norwegian elk hound and was so far unnamed. He considered calling it 'Poofu,' but only in jest, as Lance would protest.

The unnamed pup lost interest in digging and went sniffing around in a pile of firewood stacked by the shed.

Justin opened his other beer. Maybe he'd call the dog 'firewood.' He'd ask Lance first, if he ever got home.

Justin yawned and let time pass. He didn't even want to get up even though he needed another beer. The dog was just as lazy -- it had fallen asleep under a tree in a patch of sun.

Justin stretched his arms, feeling them pop, and worked his head from side to side. He stood, wobbly from sitting so long. He walked back into the kitchen and noticed that someone had looked at the mail sitting on the counter. Lance must have gotten home. But why didn't he come out back looking for him?

Justin tossed his empty bottles in the trash and bounded up the stairs to the bedroom. The door was open a crack, and he heard rustling inside. He knocked.

"Lance?" he said. "Are you home?"

He pushed open the door and was attacked.

Strong but soft hands clamped over his mouth and held one arm behind his back. Justin's mind was clouded -- he couldn't react quick enough. He was pushed face first into the bed, the hand on his mouth now keeping his head from turning around.

He felt warm breath on the back of his neck as his attacker whispered, "Happy Birthday."

"Lance!" he yelped. "Don't scare me like that!" He was allowed to turn around and was greeted by a sweet, devilish grin.

Lance pushed Justin further back on the bed and undid his pants. "I could've not said anything, you know. I could have blindfolded you too."

The words Justin was forming disappeared as a warm hand grabbed his now exposed penis.

"I could have let you think someone else was doing this to you."

Lance knelt down between Justin's legs and took his penis in his mouth, careful to tongue the sensitive head before taking in its length.

Justin gripped bedsheets in one hand and spiky blonde hair in the other. He didn't think he would last long.

"Lance," he moaned. He gently pushed Lance away from his lap. "Do you think you could slow down? Save a little for later?"

Lance smiled and laid across Justin, putting small kisses on his adam's apple. "Anything you want. It's your birthday."

"So can we get out of these clothes though?"

"Absolutely." Lance slid Justin's pants off the rest of the way, and stood up to take off his own clothes.

He pulled Justin's shirt off, then pulled down the sheets. Both climbed in.

Justin wrapped himself around Lance. "Much better."

Lance rolled on top of Justin and kissed him, tongue darting along teeth and tonsil.

Justin broke the kiss. "So is this my birthday present? Sex?" he asked.

"Nope. This is only the beginning," Lance said. He ran a trail of kisses down the side of Justin's cheek.

End.

Originally written as an *Mprov on 11/11/00, with the words digimon, chippendales, Norwegian elk hound.