Eric let Hank into his apartment, sweeping his arm around. “Here you go. It’s not large, but it’s home and I like it. Took me forever to pick out the right place.”

“Dream apartment, huh?” Hank asked. He looked around, hands in his pockets, smiling softly. “I like it. The view looks spectacular.”

“Feel free to take a picture,” Eric said, laughing as he went into the kitchen. It wasn’t a large place, just the kitchen and the living room in an open floor plan, and then the doors to the bathroom and the one bedroom. But it was enough room for a small party — for Hank’s friends, actually, now that Eric thought about it.

He could so easily picture it. They’d all enjoy the view, and could relax on the large couches that Eric had bought, or hang around the island that divided the kitchen from the living room. He’d picked this place with entertaining in mind, but he hadn’t really had a chance to use it for that. He’d gotten too busy with work, and then he’d stopped seeing his friends, and…

Maybe now, he’d have a reason to start having people over again.

Hank had his phone out and was taking pictures of the view from the massive windows. “This must’ve cost a fortune,” he said, sounding a little in awe. He turned, smiled at Eric.

“Honestly, I don’t think I gave you enough credit for all the hard work you’ve put in at your job. So I’m sorry about that. But if it gets you a dream place like this, I can see why you do it.”

“I’m hoping to work less in the future,” Eric replied. He brought over the cups of coffee. “If I get Jonas’s position, which is what I’m hoping for, I can reorganize my workload so that I don’t have to do all this extra traveling to talk to people, and I can just do the nine to five at the office. And I’ll get paid more, too.”

Hank set his phone on the coffee table and sat down. “Thanks,” he said as he took his coffee. Their fingers brushed together, and Eric had to force himself to sit and focus on his own cup.

He felt like an idiot for being such a lovestruck fool over someone, as if this was their first date and they hadn’t already despoiled both of their workplaces. But it was their official first date, and it had been surprisingly sweet. Hank had been sweet.

They talked for a few minutes, not about anything in particular. They discussed the wedding, and Hank him how Paul and Davis had gotten together, and how Paul had crashed the date Davis had been on with Brad, Hank’s roommate, to make this big romantic declaration, like they were in a film.

“It was totally for Davis’s benefit,” Hank said. “Luckily, Brad was totally cool with it, thought it was super cute.”

Then Hank’s gaze slid over the clock in the wall. “Crap, it’s late. You need to get to bed.”

“And you still need to drive home.”

Hank stood up, giving him a sheepish grin. “Mind if I use your restroom real quick? It’s a bit of a drive.”

“Yeah, no problem.”

Hank went into the restroom, and Eric began cleaning up the coffee cups. As he grabbed them, Hank’s phone lit up with a text message from Paul.

Eric smiled when he saw Paul’s name. He was going to see the guy in a whole new light now that he knew what Paul had been willing to do to win Davis over and help him feel wanted, desired, important.

His eyes skimmed over the text message — Hank had it set so that the contents of the message showed on the lock screen along with the notification. He didn’t mean to pry, but it was just automatic for him to keep reading.

How’s Operation Get Your Boyfriend to Save the Park going?

Eric’s breath froze in his chest.

Another text came in.

I know I know lame name but I couldn’t think of anything besides Operation Cobra or something and you’d have no idea what I was talking about if I said that.

It could just be a random coincidence, right? It might not mean what Eric was afraid it meant.

But what else could Paul possibly be referring to?

Eric felt his stomach twist in shame and pain. Hank didn’t really care about him; he was just dating him so that he would give up on the trailer park, or help Hank get his bosses to back off. This was all just some big prank, or joke, to him. A means to an end.

Eric kind of wanted to throw up.

Hank emerged from the restroom, a smile on his face until he took in Eric’s expression. “Everything okay?” he asked.

He sounded so concerned, like he really cared, like he thought there was something wrong with Eric that didn’t have to do with him.

It was all just a lie, Eric told himself. It was all a lie to get Eric to do what he wanted.

“Care to explain the text message you just got?” Eric asked. He held up a hand when he saw Hank’s face twist in confusion. “And before you get on my ass, yes, I know that reading people’s text messages is creepy, and no, I didn’t go into your phone. Your phone lit up with the text and the message was there, and I just automatically turned and looked at it before I could stop myself.”

“What are you talking about?” Hank asked, but Eric could detect an underlying thread of fear in his voice.

So it was true.

“I’m talking about ‘Operation Get Your Boyfriend to Save the Park’,” Eric said. “Or at least that’s what Paul’s calling it, apparently. I prefer Operation Lie to Eric and Manipulate Him; I think it’s a lot more honest, don’t you?”

The look of guilt that swept over Hank’s face said it all. Eric tossed Hank’s phone at him. “Get out.”

“You aren’t even going to let me explain?”

“What is there to explain?” Eric demanded. “You’re only doing this because you want me to help you save your family’s park. I don’t know if that’s even possible, and I’m not even saying that because I’m currently angry at you, I’m saying it because I think it’s true. I think they’re going to have to give in. But you — you decided that instead of trying to appeal to the city council or something, that you were just going to fuck me into doing what you wanted and taking care of it for you. That’s what you decided, isn’t it?”

“That — no, that’s not it at all,” Hank protested, striding over towards him.

Eric took a step back. He wanted there to be distance.

“Look,” Hank said, “okay, yes; I was going to try and convince you to help me by getting your bosses to lay off the trailer park. But I wasn’t dating you because of that. I was dating you because I liked you.”

“And how am I supposed to believe you?” Eric asked. “You’ve already lied to me once; how do I know that you aren’t doing it again right now?”

“I was going to sort of break up with you,” Hank said. “Right now, as I was leaving, I was going to tell you that we should only see each other in a professional capacity.”

“Okay, so your idea of doing the right thing was then to break up with me and hurt me, instead of just being with me the way that we both want to?” Eric paused. “Do you even want to? Or did you just decide that you couldn’t go through with pretending to like me?”

“I do like you, Eric; I really — I really do.” Hank sounded so genuine, so off-kilter, but Eric couldn’t trust him. He didn’t know what was true and what was false anymore. “But your job is the most important thing to you, and I realized that by seeing me it was a conflict of interest, and so I was going to take that away from you until this was all sorted out.”

“You’d never date me again,” Eric said with a snort. “Your family wouldn’t let you. There’s only one way this can end, and that’s with your family giving in and selling the park. And once that happens, they’re going to hate the person who was responsible for closing the deal, and that person is me.”

Hank opened his mouth to argue, but Eric cut him off. “And don’t try to tell me that you wouldn’t care. You say you don’t care about your family’s opinion, but you clearly do, or you wouldn’t be bending over backwards for them like this. You care what they think about you, and you haven’t been able to figure out how to prove yourself to them without giving up your lifestyle, but this is a way. And I know that you’re going to choose them over me.”

He almost couldn’t blame Hank. Eric would have done anything for his mom. He even would have done almost anything for his dad.

“Just get out, okay?” Eric said.

“Look, Eric, I’m sorry, but—”

“I don’t want to hear it. How can I trust anything that you’re going to tell me? Just go, okay?”

He didn’t know how much longer he’d last without his knees giving out. It felt like he’d been sucker punched.

He’d trusted Hank. He’d really, really liked Hank. He’d been planning on trying to find a loophole for Hank.

And he’d been played as a sucker this whole time.

“I almost liked it better when we were fighting,” Eric admitted. “And least then you were being honest with me.”

Anger flashed in Hank’s dark eyes. “As if you could possibly understand,” he said. “You’re clinging to your job because you’re still trying to prove yourself to your dad from beyond the grave? My family is still alive. They still need me to help them out. You’re helping no one by doing this. You’re just ruining a family, and you’re being an asshole.”

He stormed out before Eric could get another word in, snatching the last word and then disappearing — like an asshole.

Eric’s legs did give out from under him, and he collapsed back onto the couch. All this time, and Hank had just been using him. He felt like an idiot.

A heartbroken idiot.