“Not to be that guy, but you gotta head home.” Dustin grinned over his coffee at Leo to soften the blow.

Leo pulled a sad face. “No weekend-long sex-fest this time?”

Dustin crossed his legs and told himself not to let his imagination run wild. He was supposed to want more, not just sex on every surface in the house. “Not this weekend. I have a family thing.”

“You’re seeing them despite… their weirdness?” Leo asked. He drained his coffee and slid the mug across the counter, then patted down his pockets.

Dustin hummed and nodded noncommittally. He didn’t want to get into an argument about whether it was dumb to see his family. His brothers had already made it clear they thought it was. “Got everything?”

“If not, I know where you live,” Leo grinned. “Thanks for last night.”

Dustin walked him to the door. “No, thank you. It was fun.”

“Let me know when you’re free, huh?” Leo said lightly.

“Oh, I will,” Dustin promised.

Even if they hadn’t come to any conclusions about what this was between them, he was positive he wanted it to continue. A week had felt like a long time to wait, which wasn’t something he’d experienced with fuck-buddies before. Then again, he hadn’t been exclusive with one in a long time.

And the risk was enormous. If he let himself fall for Leo, and Leo got his hopes up and then backed off, Dustin would be crushed. Hell, it was probably too late now. He was committed to something with Leo. It just wasn’t romance. If he let it become that…

Leo paused by the door, his gaze on Dustin’s lips.

His cheeks flushing with heat, Dustin leaned in to quickly close the distance for an awkward kiss. The uncertainty melted away when Leo’s hand rose to cup his cheek and Leo gently kissed him back.

“See you soon,” Leo murmured. “Good luck.”

Dustin managed a quick, “Bye.” He held onto the edge of the door while Leo walked down the path to the sidewalk, then caught himself staring after Leo like he was mooning after him or something.

Oh, man. I can’t let myself do that. He wasn’t going to be the first one to fall—and the one who fell the hardest—all over again. And if he told his brothers, they’d only try to protect him again. It hadn’t worked last time, and it wouldn’t work this time.

Suddenly, lunch with his family sounded like the perfect distraction. Bring on the horrible match-making attempts. It couldn’t be worse than this.

* * *

As it turned out, even good old home cooking couldn’t take Dustin’s mind off the man who had shared his bed last night.

While his mom washed up, his dad was talking about some profitable investment he’d made, which was not only not interesting but pretty damn pointed. Every time they talked, his dad insisted he should start investing part of his salary, without really understanding the reality of life today. His salary wasn’t bad, but it was only enough to pay his mortgage and the bills, plus put an emergency savings fund aside—not spring for ten grand in stocks in some company out east.

It wasn’t that they were terrible people. They hadn’t mistreated him throughout the years. Their insistence that he find some rich man to marry came from a good place of concern for him, he was sure.

It was just… they didn’t seem to connect.

But Dustin had never noticed it as acutely as he did now, because he was so used to not connecting with people and keeping to his own little bubble in the corner of any given room.

“Earth to Dustin, come in.”

Dustin tuned in just in time to hear his family snickering. His dad was grinning from the recliner, while his mom laughed from the kitchen. His little sister, who still lived at home, was snickering, too.

“That joke got old about two decades ago.”

“Oh, someone’s cranky today.” His dad sounded like he was talking to a toddler. He shook his newspaper and folded it. “I was asking whether you’ve thought any more about that investment opportunity. My guy will cut you a deal on your fees for the first transaction.”

“I’m sure he will.” Dustin wondered how much of a kickback his dad would get for referring him. “I dunno. I’ll think about it.”

His father scowled in irritation and shook his newspaper out again with a sharp snapping sound. “You really need to decide before the opportunity disappears.”

Welcome to my life. Dustin jiggled his foot in the air, his ankle over his knee. He’d sat through a painful lunch already—couldn’t he leave now? His sense of obligation told him no. “Sure.”

“You always do this, you know.” That was his mom, drying her hands and sitting next to him on the couch. “Avoid making decisions.”

“Is there a point to this round of Let’s Lecture Dustin?” Dustin asked, unable to hide the irritation from his voice.

“Well, I was thinking it would be good for you to meet this man.” His father spoke with exaggerated patience, and even that seemed calculated to annoy him. “He’s a good guy—thirty, which is a bit old for you, but…”

“For real?” Dustin brushed invisible dust off his trousers to give his hands something to do other than ball up into fists like he was a toddler throwing a tantrum. “Another man you want to throw me at?”

“He’s nice. Has two dogs and a big yard, a good salary, good taste in wine… he’s always chatty. You need someone to bring you out of your shell.”

“Do I?” Dustin gritted out. “I’m so glad you know what I need in my life.”

His mother clicked her tongue. “I don’t see what the big problem is with us trying to set you up with someone. We only want you to be happy.”

“But you never listen when I tell you not to do that, which would make me actually happy.” Try as he might, Dustin couldn’t make it not sound like an accusation.

“I don’t see why you have to be so combative about it,” his father sighed. “We’re trying to set you up with a good thing. Don’t you see that?”

“No. You’re trying to set me up in your ideal life.” Dustin stayed standing up. He wasn’t going to sit down and concede another defeat, dooming himself to an afternoon of hearing about the rich gay men his parents were acquainted with.

Seriously, how did they know so many eligible guys? He was starting to suspect they’d joined a professional gay singles’ networking club on his behalf.

“You’ve been avoiding putting any real effort in for years. You go have first dates and then nothing more.” His mother shook her head. “If you don’t want to end up lonely when you’re old…”

“Wow.” That was below the belt. Dustin turned and headed for the door. “If you can’t respect my choices about my life goals, I shouldn’t keep bothering you with my failure to set up a heteronormative family unit according to your mandatory timeframe.” He shoved his shoes on while his mother stood up and pursued him. His sister was nowhere to be seen—probably hiding in the kitchen and listening in.

“I don’t see why you’re making such a big deal of it, Dustin. If you don’t like men, just say so. We’ll find women for you to settle down with.”

He reeled, stinging like he’d been slapped. “What did you say to me?”

“I know, I know. Nobody ever acknowledges someone might like both. But if you do, that’s fine with us. We’ll respect that choice.”

Dustin grabbed his jacket and shoved it on, his heart hammering as he pulled open the door and slammed it behind himself.

He didn’t care about coming off as mature anymore. He was too angry to even form words in response. Using that against him, like being bi was such a terrible thing they were hard-pressed to accept—like it was a choice—like he hadn’t made it clear that he was only interested in men, but none of the ones they found for him…

Dustin’s driving on his way home was less than safe. He was so wound up he stuck to the roads he knew by heart, so he hardly had to think about when to brake for stop signs or traffic lights.

“How fucking dare they?” he finally hissed as he shut off the car, staring up at the path to his front door. He’d already missed two phone calls from his parents’ home phone number.

And no wonder. Storming out was not his style—he’d never been prone to dramatics at all—but what the hell else was he supposed to do? Stay and bash his head against that brick wall?

Oh, fuck. He felt… overshadowed. That was the word.

Like everyone around him was trying to make decisions for him, or protect him, or set him up with the future they wanted. All with the best intentions, sure, but that didn’t the change the fact that it wasn’t his decision.

Maybe they were right. He’d avoided making decisions for a long time, afraid of pissing people off. It was easier to just quietly say “maybe” and not get around to doing things.

Fine. It was time to decide what he wanted and fucking own it. Time to stand on his own two feet. Time to figure out what he was so afraid of and conquer it.

Time to man up and be the man they’d always wanted him to be instead of the shy, quiet nerd in the corner—but for his own sake. Nobody else’s.

For that matter, he needed hobbies. Things to do that weren’t either drowning himself in work or visiting his parents every weekend like a good little obedient son, even when they insulted him to his face.

As he slammed his own front door and locked it, he set the contents of his pockets on the table by the door as always, glancing at his phone.

Oh. One of the missed notifications wasn’t from his parents at all. It was the group text thread, and reading the message didn’t improve his mood at all.

Valentine’s Day coming up! I’ve got a great idea for us all. +1s mandatory. Looking at you Josh, Tyler, Dustin. No stress, bring a fuckbuddy if you want. ;) 6pm, meet in front of the usual bar but plan for something else first. No spoilers! xoxo.

It was from the sometimes insufferably perky Falcon, Blane’s boyfriend. No doubt he thought of himself as a matchmaker now that his best friend was happily set up with Roman.

That’s right. Valentine’s Day is only… what, a week away? Oh, fuck me. There’s no way around this.

He plopped on the couch and thumped the phone against his forehead. Now that he’d brought up exclusivity and Leo had sounded on board, he wasn’t about to hop on Grindr and find some stranger.

Which, logically, meant asking Leo to be a plus-one or else finding an excuse to skip the night. Work was always a convenient excuse, but hadn’t he just thought a minute ago that he needed to get out and do hobbies and not lose himself in work all the time?

He’d have to ask Leo out, then.

Which meant putting his heart on the line—in front of everyone. If it went wrong, he wasn’t going to let the guys shake down Leo, either. It was time to stop letting them run things, too, however good their intentions. So maybe they were right that Leo was worth pursuing, but it had to be his decision.

The next step was clear: logically, he had to call Leo and ask about Valentine’s Day plans. That was supposed to be easy, right? With his new, improved confidence and go-get-’em attitude?

Dustin’s hand shook as he stared down at the phone.

Yeah, it’s too late. My heart’s already on the line.

He could wait a little while. Ask at work, maybe.

Yeah. He’d ask when he saw Leo next. Surely he could find the right time this week.