The next day, Paul looked down at the high sugar, high fat, items in his basket, and decided he needed to get some vegetables and start eating like a goddamn grown up. He stumbled into someone and nearly sent them both sprawling to the floor.

He looked up to see Davis stumbling backwards, disoriented. Paul shot his hand out, gripping Davis’s arm, steadying him. “Wow, you okay? Sorry about that.”

Davis shook his head as if to clear it of cobwebs. “No problem, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“Neither was I.” Paul smiled, and to his surprise, Davis smiled back, warm and easy. He had a really nice smile. It lit up his entire face.

“It’s fortunate, actually,” Davis added. “I’ve been meaning to find you and thank you. I was going to stop by the bar tonight.”

“Thank me? For what?”

“For helping me out. I got a second date with Tom and I’m pretty sure it’s because you stopped by.” Davis shrugged. “I guess there’s nothing like a little good old jealousy to get a guy to find you attractive.”

Paul wanted to say that Davis was plenty attractive on his own, but he didn’t know how Davis would take that. He’d probably dismiss Paul as being a charmer again and get pissed. Which was probably fair.

“So, second date, huh?” he asked instead, trying to encourage Davis. “What are you guys going to do?”

“Bowling,” Davis said. His eyes crinkled up at the corners when he smiled. It was cute. “I haven’t been in forever and I know it’s kind of a cliché but…”

“No, no, bowling’s fun. Sometimes things are clichés for a reason.”

Davis ducked his head a little, smiling in a pleased kind of way. “I’m surprised that you’re condoning this. I was pretty sure you’d tell me just to sleep with him and move on.”

“Well, hey, you clearly don’t agree with that so I’m backing off.” Paul shrugged. “I might have come on a little hard when we first met, with the whole not believing in relationships thing. That’s just my opinion and you’re entitled to yours.”

“I was straight up rude, so, it’s not like I’m perfect,” Davis said. “How about we both apologize, and we’ll call it even?” He looked adorably hopeful.

“Sounds good to me.”

Davis nodded, and Paul got that surge of want, curling low in his stomach, stronger than before. Sure, he’d been attracted to Davis when they’d first met, but he’d kind of forgotten about it with how they’d been snapping at each other, and then with how he was so focused on Davis’s futile attempts at romance. Now, though, he was remembering.

Tom was a lucky guy.

The bitterness in Paul’s thought surprised him. What reason did he have to be jealous of Davis’s date? What kind of ridiculousness was this?

And yet, he fell easily into step alongside Davis as the smaller man carried on talking to him. “You know, whenever I’ve seen you on my dates, you’re always alone, and I know you’re picking people up. Travis and Preston used to be each other’s wingmen, and Luke would join in too back in the day. But I don’t see you with a friend ever.”

“I don’t really have any,” Paul admitted. It felt pathetic to admit it out loud. It wasn’t like he was bemoaning his life and eating ice cream to avoid his feelings or something. “Still new in town, and all that.”

“Right.” Davis nodded. “I get that. But I was thinking—Luke likes you, or he wouldn’t have hired you. I thought maybe you’d like to join us for football on Saturday? It’s in the afternoon and we all go. You’d help make us an even number. Adam usually ends up refereeing, which, as he’s awful at football, isn’t too bad but I know he wants to play.”

“That sounds great.” That sounded amazing, actually. Paul hadn’t played a sport in ages.

“No hitting on anyone,” Davis warned. “That’s the deal. Hank and Preston and some others join us and you are not allowed to hit on anybody. Saturday football is sacred.”

“You got it, no hitting on anyone, scout’s honor.” He held up three fingers in the scout salute.

Davis’s eyes narrowed. “You were never a scout.”

Paul laughed. “Guilty as charged. I was way too much trouble, they kicked me out after the first week.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” He rolled his eyes.

“Because you know me and how much trouble I am? But luckily for all of you, I’m worth it.”

“Oh, that remains to be seen, buster. If you can outrun Travis on the field, we’ll consider keeping you.”

Paul realized that he was following Davis around the store while Davis shopped for things. Paul hadn’t actually grabbed any food to add to his basket these last few minutes. Where were they now—the frozen food section?

“That’s a lot of food you got there. Making dinner for someone?” Paul had to work hard to keep the envy out of his voice, surprising himself.

“Sort of,” Davis admitted. “Once a week Travis hosts poker night at his apartment. Lance and I don’t play, so I’ve started having him over and we do a movie night or something.”

“Ah.” So it was just Lance then. That was good.

Paul resisted the urge to bang his head against the freezer door. Good? What the hell? Davis wasn’t his boyfriend. He didn’t want Davis to be his boyfriend.

Did he?

The last time he’d really wanted to date someone, date them good and proper, it had blown up in his face. He’d even been trying, really trying. With Jack, he’d honestly wanted it to work. Jack had been so easy going, so laidback, never made a fuss about Paul struggling with going out in public together or PDA or his bartending job keeping him away a lot of nights.

Of course, it turned out Jack had been so easy going about all those things because he was using dating apps to see men on the side.

But Davis wasn’t the type to cheat, the voice in the back of Paul’s head whispered. Davis seemed like the type to get cheated on instead, the type who’d be loyal to a fault.

Still.

Not worth the risk. If it didn’t blow up that way, it’d blow up another way.

...right?

Paul didn’t know which idea scared him more: the idea of it not working out, or the idea of it actually being something good.

“I know you’ll probably hate me bringing it up again,” Paul said, careful with his tone, “but I just wanted to say… or ask, really… do you ever feel it’s unfair? You put in tons of effort with your dates and as far as I can tell they never do the same.”

“I hadn’t really thought about it,” Davis answered, but he didn’t meet Paul’s eyes.

“Well, you should. You shouldn’t have to do all the work.”

“My knight in shining armor,” Davis said, sounding almost as sarcastic as Adam for a moment. “Are you going to defend my honor the next time you see I’ve brought flowers and my date hasn’t?”

“I mean, I could if you wanted to, it might be funny.” Paul paused. “It would give the other people something to talk about. Like a show. It’d brighten their evenings.”

“Dinner theatre,” Davis said, laughing almost as if it was in spite of himself.

“Not sure the restaurant would appreciate it, but I know the patrons would.”

“You’re absolutely ridiculous, how do you ever get people to sleep with you?”

“Hey, I’ll have you know most people love ridiculous. It puts them at ease. Got you laughing, didn’t I?”

“Fair point.” Davis glanced at Paul’s mostly-empty basket. “Don’t you have shopping to do?”

“Oh, crap, yeah, I was just…” Paul scrambled for an excuse to keep talking to Davis. He hadn’t felt this in ages, this compulsion to be close to someone, to keep them near him. “You never answered my question.”

“Oh.” Davis stopped walking for a moment, thinking. “I do mind, honestly. It’s not that I’d want roses every day for the rest of my life. I don’t need romantic gestures all the time. But when I first start dating someone… you’re going to laugh, here, but I want to be wooed. I want someone to actually take the time to win me over and show me that they’re interested. Because if they won’t take the time at the beginning of the relationship to show me they’re invested in it, how will I know they’ll take the time later on when they’ve started to take me for granted? The whole best foot forward thing, that’s what I mean. I want someone to see me and decide that I’m worth the effort of romantic gestures.

“And like I said, I wouldn’t need it every day. God knows that’d be exhausting. Those first few dates are supposed to be for caring for your date and showing yourself in your best light, but I think people take that to mean bragging about themselves.”

Paul had to admit that it made sense. It was reasonable, even, to expect that. “I… guess I might have been wrong, then, about judging your whole into romantic gestures crap.”

“Wow, glowing praise from you,” Davis said, but he was smiling so Paul could tell he wasn’t offended.

“I just mean, when I first saw you, I thought that you just wanted to be pampered. That you were into the gestures and not about the actual meat of a relationship. No pun intended.”

“None taken until you brought it up.” Davis laughed again. His eyes crinkled up ar the corners. Paul wanted to keep making him laugh, and it kind of scared him what a sap he was around Davis.

He pushed forward. “But when you put it into that context, it makes a lot of sense. If someone feels they can get away with being lazy when they first start dating you, then it’s set a precedent and they’ll just keep being lazy in showing their affection for you.”

“Exactly!” Davis’s smile was so wide it almost split his face. “That’s it exactly. Thank you. Jake still doesn’t understand it and his damn boyfriend makes him custom desserts.”

“I don’t think you’re going to find someone who can top that,” Paul warned him.

“Eh, Matthew’s way too affectionate anyway. I’m not a PDA person, despite what people seem to think because of the romance thing.”

“So, you’ll take flowers and violin playing but not making out in a corner?”

Davis shrugged. “It’s just, physical stuff, that’s just for me and my partner. I don’t want to share that or feel like I’m being judged on my performance or something by others.”

“You really do belong in the 1950s.”

“If we were in the 1950s we could get arrested.”

“Ah, fair point, 21^st Century is just fine.”

Davis snorted. Paul’s chest filled with warmth and he wanted to punch the air in triumph at getting Davis to laugh again. “Glad to see I could so easily change your mind again.”

“What can I say, I’m easily swayed by a pretty face.” Paul batted his eyes outrageously.

Davis shoved him playfully. “You’re incorrigible.”

“So don’t encourage me.”

Davis rolled his eyes, but he was still smiling. “You need to get your food, asshole.”

“Fine, fine, I will be a responsible adult.” Paul winced inwardly, knowing he was out of excuses to keep chatting with Davis. “Hey, let me know how the date goes, all right?”

“Will do.” Davis gave him a sassy little salute, then held up three fingers. “Scout’s honor.”

Paul laughed, his chest filling with warmth again. Fuck, I’m in trouble.