Dustin held out until Thursday before he texted Leo.

And really, after that sex, who the hell could have expected him to last any longer? It had already been nearly a week. Dustin pushed back against the gut instinct warning him not to get too close to anyone who hadn’t offered any guarantees yet.

He didn’t need reassurance from Leo. He just wanted more of whatever he could get from him.

Not seeing Leo at work that week was probably a good thing. Their work hours didn’t happen to overlap, which stopped him from doing anything dumb like hanging out at Leo’s desk all the time.

Dustin composed and deleted several versions of the text before finally letting himself press Send on a simple message:

Movie date tomorrow?

That would be Friday night, which surely made it kind of romantic by default. But just in case it wasn’t clear, using the word “date” ought to help.

It was up to Leo to choose if he meant Netflix and chill, or an actual movie out at a real theater. That would dictate whether it was just sex or something… more exciting. It seemed like an incredibly clever message, but it didn’t relieve any of his anxiety while he waited for an answer.

Dustin didn’t have to wait long. A couple minutes after he’d put down his phone and sworn not to check it again until he got an alert, it chimed.

It was in his hand before he consciously remembered reaching for it.

Sure! You choose. I don’t know what’s playing, haha.

“Oh my God,” Dustin breathed out as he stirred the pasta that was that night’s dinner one-handed. He fumbled to unlock and answer the phone with his other thumb. “He wants meeee.”

Rom com? he suggested, his eyes on the screen more than the pot now.

Leo answered faster this time. Appropriate for us, yes :)

Dustin burst out laughing, his cheeks flushing. Well, that answered some of his questions. IDK, nothing too slapstick has happened yet.

Don’t jinx us! Now I’ll blame you when I trip into your arms.

Dustin grinned. I’ll catch you ;)

I hope so ;) What time?

Dustin looked up movie times, poking in annoyance at the pasta. Why did it have to be almost done now? He quickly shot back a movie time and drained the pasta.

Leo had responded by then. Sounds perfect. Can’t wait!

With that arranged, Dustin dumped pasta sauce into his slightly-mushy meal. Even the state of the pasta couldn’t depress him, though, considering what he’d just gotten from Leo.

An actual date. Something that meant he wasn’t cutting ties and backing off now that they’d gotten close a couple times.

Maybe this had a future after all.

* * *

A Friday had never gone slower, but it was eventually almost time for Leo to pick him up. Dustin kind of liked this routine, too—standing on the curb with his hands tucked firmly into his pockets, waiting for Leo to pull up.

Leo was exactly on time again. Before his car had even come to a stop, Dustin trotted up to the passenger side. “Hi!” He swung into the car and buckled up.

“You’re ready,” Leo laughed. He hesitated, then leaned in across the console slightly.

Dustin smiled. It was clearly an invitation, so he met him halfway and pecked his lips. Oh my God. “Hi,” he repeated, then realized he’d repeated himself. “Uh. Sorry. I am. How are you?”

“It’s been a good week. Caught up and got ahead on homework. Lots of on-call stuff, though. And a couple court appearances. Glad to be off this weekend,” Leo said. “You?”

Dustin waved a hand, hardly able to remember his work week now that Leo was around. He seemed to forget almost completely about that certain intoxicating something between them until he was back in Leo’s presence again. Then, it was a fight to keep his hands off him. “Oh, all right. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

The nervous tension between them was impossible to miss. There was a certain something different in the way Leo was holding himself, and Dustin squeezed his folded hands between his knees to stop them from shaking.

“Are you all right?” Leo was, as usual, much too perceptive. He was supposed to be driving, for God’s sake. Keeping his eyes on the road.

Dustin slid his hands under his thighs instead and nodded. “Just chilly hands.”

“Mmm.” Leo glanced sideways at him again but didn’t pursue it. Instead, he lightly smiled. “You found something lighthearted that we don’t have to pay attention to?”

“Yes.” Dustin dragged out the syllable for an extra second.

Leo winked. “Oh, no reason,” he answered the unanswered question. “Except necking in the back row like high schoolers. I assumed that was what you had in mind.”

Dustin’s cheeks flushed and he giggled, his nerves settling down despite himself. I can’t be tense around him. It’s so weird.

“There’s that smile I like to see.”

Dustin could feel his blush deepening. Like a goddamn high schooler… except this time, he was doing it right. Not chasing the guys who were too full of themselves to pay him more than three seconds’ attention.

Not that he was thinking about that right now.

He managed to make awkward conversation until they reached the theater and parked, but then there was no avoiding it: walking by Leo’s side, figuring out how close to stick to him, whether or not to hold hands… It was a whole new world for him.

Leo seemed cool, relaxed, and unaware of all the internal battles Dustin was fighting. He stayed just a little closer than a couple of guy friends would, but didn’t reach for Dustin’s hand.

Dustin took the cue not to try. It would be nice, though, he thought wistfully.

“Two adults, please,” Dustin heard Leo say. “And, uh, the date special.”

The girl behind the counter giggled but punched it into the computer. “That’s one popcorn,” she said pointedly. “And two drinks.”

Leo smiled back. “That’ll be fine.”

Realizing that Leo intended to pay, Dustin fumbled for his wallet. “Oh, I can—”

“No, no.” Leo brushed his hand away from his pocket. “It’s my turn.”

Dustin was fairly sure Leo was taking liberties with the truth, but he wasn’t about to insist and make things awkward. “If you’re sure. Thank you.”

“Of course. My pleasure.”

“Screen three is through that way,” the teenager told them once she’d given them their one enormous bag of popcorn and two drinks.

Dustin had to fight not to smile. He sure as hell didn’t see any friends sharing popcorn. It felt more and more like a real date.

“I’ve been here… a couple times, I think? They definitely got refurbished since then,” Leo said, carrying the drinks while Dustin balanced the popcorn and tickets.

“I came here once in high school,” Dustin murmured. “On a date. We didn’t get the date special, though.” His cheeks flushed with embarrassment at the memory.

“How unromantic. This is much better,” Leo declared. “Anything he did, I can do better.”

Dustin laughed sharply. “Yeah. No doubt.”

They were almost alone in the theater as they settled down and balanced the bag between them.

“What happened? Did you have to kiss a frog?” Leo asked. “You can tell me to fuck off,” he added, grabbing a handful of popcorn and stuffing it in his mouth. “Mm. S’good popcorn here though.”

Dustin took a more dignified handful to munch on, one or two at a time. “Just some guy in high school. I wasn’t gonna say. I never actually told my brothers. They only knew about my one ex, not this guy.”

“Ooh.” Leo sat up straight and gulped his drink, then turned to him. “Intriguing.”

Dustin snorted. “Not because we had a fling or anything. The opposite. He was, I guess…” He searched to find a phrase that wasn’t leading me on or a closeted asshole. “Not… what I needed.”

Leo raised a brow.

“Fine. Closeted, and so not into me, either.” Dustin winced at the memory, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Why couldn’t he have just said he hadn’t been here in a while and left it at that? “I tried to hold hands during a romantic bit of the movie and he laughed at me. He got me to, uh, play with him a little. That was about it. Didn’t even get a kiss goodnight.”

“What the fuck?” Leo was scowling now. “Asshole.”

“It was a decade ago. My brothers and I were, like, the only out gay guys at school. Well, us and band club.”

Leo snorted in amusement. “True. But that doesn’t mean you’re… I don’t know. Target practice.” He slid his arm along the seats behind Dustin’s shoulders. “I’m sorry. There’s a lot of shit I missed out on, apparently.”

“Be glad you did.” Dustin reached for more popcorn at the same time Leo did, and Leo took his hand for a moment.

“I am. But I’m still sorry you had to go through it.” Then, Leo let go and gestured for him to take popcorn first.

Dustin fumbled to do so and get his hand out of the way, his heart racing. Leo seemed so… sweet and sincere when he said these things. He looked square into Dustin’s eyes and told the truth.

That wasn’t what Dustin was used to, at all.

“Um.” Dustin finally found his voice, his heart racing as Leo’s hand settled on his shoulder. “Thanks. I mean, I’m over it. Mostly. I guess. All that stuff from back then.”

But when he thought about it, and admitted it to himself, he could trace back his cautious attitude toward dating to high school—Bryce, this guy and the rest of the bullies.

As if reading his mind, Leo hummed. “Are you? I don’t think any of us really get over the things that leave an imprint.” Leo’s brows were furrowed now.

The ads at the beginning of the movie were playing, but the lights were still on, so Dustin didn’t feel bad taking the chance to talk. “Like what?”

“Well…” Leo hedged for a minute, then caved. “My dad died before I even remember him. Mom remarried, and my step-dad was a little… hard on me, I guess. Just normal dad stuff. Didn’t want me to go into girly photography stuff. Thought I should be a real military man and, I don’t know, kung-fu my way through the jungle.” Though his tone was light, his brows were still pinched in a way that made Dustin want to reach out and smooth the frown off his face.

“Shit. Sorry,” Dustin murmured. “See, I feel lucky because I didn’t get that. We all have our own… crosses to bear, or whatever.”

Leo hesitated, then nodded. “I guess. It just felt like the normal stuff to me. You know, toughening me up.”

“Which can be pretty fucked up,” Dustin said and shook his head. “How are they about it now?”

“I don’t talk to them about much.” Leo sipped his drink and looked away, staring into the distance through the candy bar ad that was playing. “Just holidays, really.”

“They live here?”

“Yeah. Yeah… do yours?” It looked like it took effort for Leo to look back at Dustin.

Dustin was happy to change the subject for him. “Yeah. I talk to them a little more than I’d like.”

“Right, right. You mentioned that.” Leo half-smiled. “The ones who want you to marry some rich man.”

Dustin snorted. “Yeah, those ones. It’s a weird kind of liberalism, you know?”

“Not bad, though?” Leo asked.

“I can’t complain.” Dustin shook his head.

The lights started to dim, and he breathed a sigh of relief. They’d survived a tricky conversation, and now they had a few hours of silence.

But hours wouldn’t be long enough to forget all those strangely vulnerable things that had slipped into the air between them.