The last load of laundry was shoved into the washer, Linc measured in detergent and then closed the lid. Malcolm was tucked into bed. Dishes were done and put away. Melanie and King left that morning. King dropped Melanie back off at school and then headed off for a long run to Los Angeles.

He hated when King drove that far. He knew King had been at his job for almost nine years. As far as he knew except for the time it took away from Malcolm, King loved his job. He glanced at the clock and found it was almost ten. King always called by then to say goodnight to Mal and talk to Linc for a while.

He didn’t have anything else to do but wait for the clothes to finish. Walking through the house, he made sure everything was locked up and lights were turned off before he headed to King’s room.

The bed was already turned down. He should sleep in his sister's room, but curling up in King's bed was his guilty pleasure. The closest he'd ever come to King. He went to King’s dresser and pulled out pajama bottoms. He changed and bent to pick up the discarded clothes as his phone started to ring. He strode to where his phone was plugged in on the nightstand on the right side of the bed.

“Hello,” he answered without checking the caller ID.

“Hey, sorry, pileup put me behind schedule.”

King sounded tired.

“It’s fine. I told Mal you were probably driving, and it wasn’t safe for you to call.”

“Thanks, I hate not being able to call, but—”

“The money is better for the over the road trips.”

“Yeah. How was y’all’s day?”

“Went to the school to pick up my schedule. Picked up the roster for tryouts and to see who’s returning this season. Mal came along with me, then we went to the park and had lunch. Then we came home to catch up on laundry.”

“Honey, you don’t have to do the laundry.”

Something happened to him when King used endearments. He’d never liked partners in the past who tried it, but with King, it felt right. It made him feel special because he’d been around King enough when the man was flirting to know he didn’t use them with anyone else.

He smiled and shook his head, “When is it going to get done then?”

“I would’ve done it when I got home.”

“Then you’d have twice as much laundry…that you wouldn’t do.”

King laughed. “Okay, you’ve got me there.”

He turned and sat down on the edge of the bed, he lay back and stared up at the exposed beams of the ceiling. He loved King’s cabin. He still lived in the same apartment he’d rented when he moved back.

“What are you doing? You got awful quiet.”

“Nothing, lying on your bed and staring up at the ceiling. I need to find a house.”

There was silence, and he pulled the phone away from his ear to check to make sure the call was still connected.

“Why? I thought you liked your apartment.”

“I like your house more.”

“Move in.”

“What?”

“Move in. You spend more time there than at your place.”

“I couldn’t do that.”

“Just think about it. There’s the empty guest room.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Which is Linc-speak for no.”

He had to admit he did spend more time there than he did at his place. He even had drawers and more than half of King’s closet, not that he wore any of it. Most times he grabbed King’s clothes to sleep in. A yes tripped on the tip of his tongue. Yes, he’d love to live there, but could he live with King and remain sane. It wasn’t a guarantee. He had wanted King for too long. When it seemed like he couldn’t resist telling King what he felt, he escaped back to his apartment with some excuse.

“I had an idea.”

“Oh, and what might that be?”

“You and me, dinner this weekend. Ben and Psycho said they’d keep Mal. He can play with Gunner and Rage.”

“They have to stop calling Thomas Rage. He has two perfectly good names, Hendrix or Thomas. He won’t answer to his real name when it’s time to start school this fall.”

Psycho worked as a bouncer at Brawlers and was married to Ben who owned a Bakery in town. Ben and Psycho co-parented Rage, Gunner, and Sawyer with Psycho’s ex-wife and her current wife. It was a weird little family, but it worked for them. He shouldn’t call it weird, he acted as a parent with Mal, along with Melanie and King. They’d done it for what seemed like forever.

“You try telling Psycho that and Rage is a perfect name for the little terror.”

“He’s not so bad, him and Gunner are like super sweet with Mal.”

“They are. So what do you say, is it a date?”

Date, he wished that word meant more than a figure of speech. He wanted a real date.

“Sure.”

“Great, so it’s a date.”

His brows drew together at King’s emphasis on the last word. It had just hit him. King was acting weird. It wasn’t anything overt, the offer for him to move in, now, a night out for the two of them. Unless it was a gig at Brawlers, all their outings were with Mal.

“Is there something you want to talk to me about?”

“No, no, you take care of Mal most of the time, I thought it would be nice to take you out for dinner and whatever else you want to do.”

“Okay.”

“I better get going, I’ll call in the morning to talk to Mal.”

“Goodnight, King.”

“You too, baby.”

The call ended, but he remained on the bed with his phone still pressed to his ear. King’s abrupt goodbye like a solid punch to the gut. They spoke for an hour and sometimes more, yet he didn’t get to grow sleepy with King’s gruff voice in his ear—King’s scent surrounding him.

Excuses formed in his mind, King was sleepy, and it had turned into a long day for the man.

He lifted his phone and stroked his fingertip across the screen, finding his sister’s number. He tapped the green call button. He bit his bottom lip as he waited for her to answer.

“Hey, Linc.”

“Hey, sis.”

“Is everything okay?”

“I can’t just call you because I want—”

“Shut the fuck up, you know you can, but you know you never do. Unless you want to share a Mal milestone with me.”

“I’m sorry, I just…I feel off tonight.”

“Issue with King?”

“Why would it be an issue with him?”

“You do know that I’ve always known you had a thing for King, right?”

Panic tightened his chest as he searched his mind for stupid clues he might’ve given away over the years. Times he’d paid too much attention to the other man. He braced himself for anger and censure for feelings he’d fought since he’d met the man.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Don’t try to play innocent with me, big brother.”

“How?”

He couldn’t deny it, he and Melanie hadn’t lied to each other before. So, he’d lied to her by omission for years, and she somehow knew it. He wanted to know how and if King suspected, he’d be mortified. Maybe that’s why King wanted to take him out, wanted to warn him that his feelings weren’t—

“Are you listening to me, Lincoln?”

“What? Sorry, what were you saying?” He couldn’t lose anyone else, his parents gave up on him, but Melanie and Mal, along with King were all he had left in the world. Losing them would kill him, and he was sure he’d never recover from it.

“You don’t hide it all that well.”

“Fuck—”

“Oh, we’re cussing now?”

“Shut up, does he know?”

“Clueless, so you’re safe, so don’t start getting all embarrassed and shit.”

“Why aren’t you mad?”

She knew, shouldn’t she be pissed that he didn’t just have a thing for King, he was in love with the man. It was her ex-husband, and besides being his best friend, Melanie was his sister. This couldn’t get any more awkward.

“King was and is my best friend, one night, a few too many drinks, and things went a bit far. We were sixteen, had sex, and we just thought, I don’t know what we thought. We loved each other, but not in the way we should’ve. And when I found out I was pregnant, we’d already fallen into a comfortable space. We did the right thing. When we stood there and said I do to each other, I think…”

“What?”

“We knew it wasn’t right. After that, there was no more sex, and we somehow went back to best friends. It wasn’t awkward. We stuck it out for a year as we quietly planned getting divorced. We decided I should go to school like I wanted. I knew he was gay. I feel like a bitch keeping him around and not letting him find the man of his dreams, but it is what it is.”

“Are you sure he doesn’t know?”

Melanie laughed so hard she snorted. “I’m positive he doesn’t know. Are you ready to do something about it?”

“No,” he shouted.

“Why not? My ex-husband is hot as fuck. And hung, oh, how hung.”

“You’re just making this weird now.”

“It’s not a monster or anything, but you sure know—”

“Melanie, what about weird do you not understand?”

“You’re too easy, big brother. Why the sudden call?”

“He called tonight, but he was just off. We normally talk for an hour or so in the evenings. I tell him about Mal’s day and mine…talk about his. Then he said he wanted to take me out this weekend. Maybe he knows, and he wants—”

“I can guarantee that I would know if he knew. King tells me everything.”

He pushed a relieved sigh through his compressed lips. He didn’t handle embarrassment well, and he was too attached to Mal and King. Being with them was like living his dream, except the point of not being able to call King his.

“Linc, don’t panic. It’s probably a thank you dinner for all that you do. We probably don’t tell you enough how much we appreciate you being there for us and especially for Mal. It’s hard being away from Mal, for both of us. King with his job and me with school, you give our, and I mean ours, yours, mine and King’s son, the normal life he deserves. We love you for that, and we know how much time it takes from finding someone—”

Tears filled his eyes at Melanie calling Mal theirs. It was everything he’d always wanted. He loved Mal like his own and wouldn’t know what to do without him.

“I’m happy. I don’t feel like I’m missing out. I love that I can have Mal to myself. The highlight of my day is being able to pick him up from daycare and take him to the park or whatever. Making him dinner, reading him his bedtime story. Then I get to talk to King and tell him—”

“Linc, just don’t play martyr with this. You deserve to be happy and find someone. If you want King, go for it. Don’t hesitate because of mine and King’s past.”

“Okay, I better let you go, you have classes and probably homework to do.”

“Homework is done, but I have a shift at the restaurant in the morning before my first class. I love you, big brother. Do what’s right and get your man.”

The conversation ended quickly leaving him with more questions than answers. He wanted King, but he couldn’t take the chance of losing what he already had. Being King’s friend and Mal’s parent was more important. He tossed his phone aside and got up to check the clothes and get some sleep.