“Hey, he’s not a peg leg anymore!” Matthew said, as Tom and Ross entered the bar.

“Thanks,” Tom replied, flipping Matthew off.

At his side, Ross chuckled. It was the first time that any of the guys besides Adam were seeing Tom since his cast had come off. Even though he’d gotten it off two weeks ago, he and Ross had been too busy to get down to Joe’s, so this was his debut being able to walk like a regular person again.

“Congratulations,” Davis said, smiling. “That must have been a pain in the ass.”

“Don’t worry, I’m sure Ross has been giving him another pain in the ass to make up for—ow!” Paul yelped, as Davis smacked him with Paul’s own washcloth, the one he used to wipe up the bar top.

“Congratulations on that, too,” Jake said with a smirk.

“It’s our two week anniversary,” Ross said with false, exaggerated sappiness. “Isn’t it just amazing?”

Jake flipped him off. “Call me when you’ve lasted a year.”

“Ouch, you’re harsh, MacNamara.”

“If you all thought getting engaged was going to soften me up, you’re all fools and I pity you.”

“Matthew,” Ross said, shaking Matthew’s hand, “you’re a goddamn saint. Thank you for taking one for the team and taking Jake off our hands.”

Tom suddenly found himself lifted off his feet from behind as Travis yanked him into a hug. “Hey, look at you, you’re all better!”

“For heaven’s sake, Trav, put him down, you almost gave him a heart attack,” Lance said, stepping in to give Tom a hug of his own. “You must be loving the freedom.”

“I have never appreciated the ability to walk so much before,” Tom said honestly. It was amazing what could be taken for granted until it was taken away from you.

Like a person.

Tom never wanted to go without having Ross in his life again. That had been nothing short of awful.

Luckily, Ross seemed to feel the same way. He was always crashing at Tom’s place or telling Tom to crash at his, even when they could only see each other for a few minutes here and there. Just knowing that the other person was there in the apartment while the other one was at work made it so much better.

Even if they did no more than just sleep, exhausted, in the same bed, it was better than nothing. Tom slept better when Ross was there with him, the warmth and shape of him soothing Tom even in slumber.

Ross did have a few little hang-ups leftover from Jeremy, as he’d warned Tom there might be. Ross would sometimes not tell Tom where he was, or go the other direction and send Tom constant updates about where he was. Jeremy had always wanted to know what Ross was doing at all times, and so Ross was swinging between protecting himself by not telling Tom anything, or falling back into the old habit and updating him too much.

But they were making it work. Tom could afford to be patient. And their schedules meant that they were taking things slow, which was good. Neither of them had a whole lot of experience with a serious relationship.

Tom really wished that he could find Jeremy and punch him in the face, though. But Adam had taken care of that.

The last that Tom had heard, Jeremy had been fired from his job and was moving to New York to try his luck there.

They’d heard this from Adam himself, and while Adam had confirmed nothing, Tom would bet good money that Adam had not only orchestrated Jeremy getting fired, but had terrified Jeremy into moving to another city halfway across the country.

You really didn’t mess with Adam’s friends, apparently.

“Good to see you guys,” Luke called from behind the bar top. He had Seth with him, and was apparently showing him some of the housekeeping duties. Seth was still too young to serve alcohol, but he could do things like bus food, clean, organize, restock, and so on, and it looked like Luke was training him to help out in the bar now.

Eric emerged from the kitchen, where he was definitely not allowed to go, looking a little dazed and with his tie askew. “Hey, glad you guys could make it!”

“Do not touch me until you’ve washed your hands,” Ross said firmly.

“I was just saying hi to Hank,” Eric protested.

“Yeah, you were saying hi with your hand down his pants, if I know you. Shoo.”

Tom laughed, sitting down at a barstool. Immediately, and unconsciously, Ross slid in to stand next to him, his arm wrapped around Tom from behind. “Perverts, that’s what all of our friends are,” he whispered in Tom’s ear.

“As if we aren’t just as bad,” Tom replied, tilting his head back so that Ross could nip at his ear.

“Ugh, the honeymoon stage, spare me,” Jake said.

“You’re literally going to be in the honeymoon stage soon,” Tom pointed out.

“That reminds me,” Davis said. “Paul and I are officially moving in together. We’re going to have a little get-together when it’s finished, just something casual with food. Maybe like a board game night or something?”

“Sounds fun,” Eric said, returning from the bathroom.

“You two have to come,” Davis said, pointing sternly at Tom and Ross. “No ifs, ands, or buts.”

“Yes, sir,” Ross replied, saluting him mockingly.

“We’re all sarcastic shits,” Lance murmured in despair, as if just now realizing that this was what the rest of his life was going to be like.

“Don’t pretend that you don’t love it,” Matthew drawled.

Travis threw his arm around Lance’s shoulders. “We should have some kind of housewarming party, too, now that the renovations are all finished and we actually have a damn house again.”

“He’s letting me paint the walls whatever color I want,” Lance said proudly, like he’d won a great victory.

Tom suspected that there’d been bribery of some kind involved.

He and Ross weren’t thinking about moving in yet. They’d only just started. But it did have its appeal. They wouldn’t have to worry so much about scheduling, and they’d have more opportunities to see each other, even if it was just in passing, and coordinating things would be easier…

But, hey, one step at a time. They were still getting to know each other. Still working through some of Ross’s issues, making sure that he felt truly in control and comfortable with every step in their relationship.

There would be plenty of time for big steps like that, anyway. Because Tom had no intention of this relationship ending any time soon.

Ross squeezed him gently. “Look at us,” he murmured. “Being all domestic. I can tell you our high school selves would be gagging. Especially Luke’s and Travis’s; they were the players.”

“High school?” Paul piped in, obviously overhearing. “My self from last year would be gagging.”

“You still gag nowadays,” Davis murmured quietly.

Ross had been taking a drink of his beer, which was a mistake, because he started coughing and Tom had to thump him on the back.

If he left his hand there even after Ross had recovered, well, who cared? Ross was his boyfriend. Tom could touch him whenever and however he pleased.

His boyfriend.

Okay, so maybe he was a bit of a sap. But he had a right to be, didn’t he?

It had all worked out.

“How the hell did you two get here before me?” Adam demanded, entering the bar. He reached over the bar top and gave Luke a quick kiss before turning to give an accusatory glare to Ross and Tom.

“Maybe because I don’t stop and talk to Enid for an hour in the parking lot?” Tom replied.

Luke laughed at the expression on Adam’s face. “He’s got you there.”

“Any ideas on the wedding date?” Ross said to Matthew, clearly wanting to avoid Tom and Adam going at it.

“We’ve got a couple of them in mind,” Matthew said. “We want to do something simple. I’ll be making the cake, and we wanted to have the reception here at Joe’s, if that’s okay with you, Luke.”

“Oh, wow, my friends want to use my bar to host their wedding, how awful,” Luke replied, deadpan, in a pretty good impression of Adam’s own flat, sarcastic tone of voice.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Matthew replied, grinning.

Tom didn’t really say much after that, but he didn’t have to. All around him were good people—his friends—bickering and teasing and laughing and talking. He had a place that he could come and relax, and people that he could relax with, people who cared about him.

Adam had been right—he’d really needed this.

He leaned into Ross’s side a little more. They weren’t generally super into PDA, but he was feeling a little cuddly tonight, and it wasn’t anything worse than what any of the others were doing.

“You good?” Ross asked quietly.

“Definitely.” He was great. “You?”

Ross smiled at him. “Yeah. I’m definitely good, Clark.”

He kissed Tom softly on the cheek.

“You still haven’t explained what that means,” Travis grumbled.

“And we never will,” Ross announced.

Tom grinned. He honestly couldn’t think of a better way to be spending his evening, or any of his evenings. They were still in the beginning stages, but that was okay. There was so much to look forward to, to get excited about, to laugh about, to enjoy.

If he let himself dream about it, he wanted to move in with Ross. He wanted to be planning with him, the way that Matthew and Jake were planning. He wanted to be secure with him, the way that Luke and Adam were secure. He wanted to paint the walls of their joined place together, the way Travis and Lance were doing, and host a housewarming party, like Davis and Paul.

But that was all going to come, he reassured himself. There was plenty of time for that. They weren’t on any kind of schedule or time crunch. Right now he had Ross’s arm around him, and his jokes whispered in his ear, and they were going to go home together, and he loved him and was loved in return.

That was more than enough.