Logan had come to the Grand Canyon with one very specific goal in mind: get as far away from Boston as possible.

He’d considered moving to a small town, but he’d seen enough movies to know that was a stupid idea. When people were trying to hide from something they always went to a small town. But really, a small town was the exact sort of place they’d get noticed and remembered. Oh, you’re looking for a blond guy with glasses? Yeah he just moved in; we all delivered pies; and, here’s his address.

No, a small town was right out. But he couldn’t handle another city, not right now. Even though Los Angeles and Seattle and so many other places were also far away. He’d also wanted somewhere with a climate as different from Boston as possible—he wanted as few reminders of his former home as he could manage.

The Grand Canyon had been perfect. It wasn’t a city, and was pretty much in the middle of nowhere. But there were plenty of tourists, lots of seasonal staff, and so it’d be easy to blend in and avoid making friends if he wanted to. Not to mention, the canyon was gorgeous. Working in a bookstore, surrounded by quiet… it felt perfect. He’d been happy with his choice.

Maybe, for some people, moving across the country to work in the middle of nowhere just because of a broken heart was a little extreme. But the whole reason Logan had even been in Boston in the first place was Tim.

Logan didn’t have any family—his parents had died young—and no friends growing up. When his high school boyfriend had decided to go to Boston University, well, Logan hadn’t had anyone else and he wasn’t ambitious. He just wanted to be a librarian or work with books in some way. So why not go with Tim to Boston? Why not stay?

He hadn’t noticed how much his life had revolved around Tim until Tim had started pulling away. All of Logan’s friends were really Tim’s friends. He wasn’t good with people, and so everyone he knew, he knew through Tim. The apartment was in Tim’s name for various reasons that had made sense at the time.

He’d thought—well, he’d thought a lot of things. Mostly that his introverted nature balanced out Tim’s voracious need to socialize. But Tim hadn’t seen it that way, apparently. Instead of being an adult about it and just breaking up with him, he’d decided cheating on Logan would be a whole lot better instead.

Hence: the Grand Canyon.

Moving had been a lot easier than he’d expected. He needed a change of scenery, a clean break, something new. Diane had wanted to retire, so why the hell not? He liked his staff and being a manager since he didn’t have to interact with the customers too much. He could hide in the back room as much as he wanted.

And then—Alex.

The one possibility Logan hadn’t accounted for was being attracted to someone here. He’d been with Tim for so long, his only relationship either sexual or romantic, his high school sweetheart. It literally hadn’t occurred to him that he might develop feelings for someone else.

Then Alex had to walk in that first day, all ruggedly handsome and looking like he’d stepped out of the pages of an adventure novel. He was a bit dirty, but in that ‘I’m an alpha male’ way that made him all the more attractive. He had dark hair, dark flashing eyes, stubble and a square jaw, and God, his arms and shoulders and—just all of him.

Logan’s brain had completely short circuited.

That last thing he needed was someone else breaking his heart. And Logan was well aware that a guy as handsome as Alex was not going to look twice at nerdy, socially inept, tie-and-sweater-vest wearing Logan.

And Alex had been all dirty and possibly getting that on the books, so…

Logan fully understood that he hadn’t started things off on the right foot.

It hadn’t helped that apparently, Alex had a reputation for picking tourists up in the bar. Male tourists, which made it worse. If he’d been straight, then Logan could have happily set aside his crush. But the fact that there was a hypothetical possibility that Alex might want him…

Logan had been determined to hate the guy, - the easy smile, dirt and tanned skin, dark eyes - and pat himself on the back that he wouldn’t be another notch in Alex’s bedpost.

Of course, the universe just had to fuck with him even more.

“He hasn’t picked anyone up in ages,” Dennis told him when Logan brought it up during restocking in the back.

Dennis wasn’t Logan’s favorite coworker--that was Jane--but he was dry and funny. Logan could appreciate that.

“I thought you didn’t like the guy,” Logan pointed out.

“He’s a better flirt than I am. I think I’m allowed to be annoyed by that,” Dennis replied, sounding genuinely irritated by this fact. “But he’s not heading out to the bar the way he used to. I think since his brother got married, he’s been thinking about, you know, settling down too. And I mean… sure, he annoys me with the whole being a ten out of ten thing, but he cares about his job more than anything. He’s a good guy.”

“You really think that?”

“I mean, everyone likes him.” Dennis unpacked another box and started passing the books to Logan. “I think maybe he’s just waiting for someone who’s right. And hey, in the meantime what’s the harm in having fun with a visitor, right?” Dennis winked at him in a conspiratorial kind of way. “God knows I don’t see the harm in it, anyway.”

Logan rolled his eyes to show Dennis what he thought of his pick-up habits. “So he wouldn’t ever try to screw over a coworker.”

“No way. Alex cares way too much about his job. He’s not a jerk like that, he wouldn’t risk making his work environment uncomfortable.”

Dennis lowered his voice and glanced over his shoulder to make sure no one was going to stroll into the back room, “Why, has he tried to flirt with you?”

“No.” Just tried to be friendly before Logan shut him down like an asshole. “I just—it’s nothing, really—”

“Do you want him to flirt with you?” Dennis asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

Dennis was a bit of a player, but he’d always been a good guy to Logan. Now he was looking at him like he already knew Logan’s answer. Logan told himself he might as well be honest. “I—I mean, he’s attractive. And the way you talk about him—I thought he was just the kind of guy who ran around breaking hearts not caring how someone felt when he was done with them. But I think now I might’ve been… comparing him too much to someone else I knew.”

“I mean, it’s hard to tell who the jerks are, and who’s just genuinely looking to have fun but is considerate about it,” Dennis acknowledged. “I think that if you want to see if he likes you, you should try. Get involved in his interests. Recommend a book on hiking or something.”

“I’m not sure.” Logan had spent the last month avoiding Alex and glaring at him from behind the stacks. SAlex remained stupidly handsome, which really wasn’t fair. “I think that ship might’ve sailed.”

“You never know until you try, right? And I’ve never heard Alex to have a bad word for anybody. He’ll be nice about letting you down, if that’s what he chooses.”

Logan nodded. The question, he realized, wasn’t so much whether or not Alex would be a good guy about it. He trusted Dennis’ judgement of Alex. Especially since Dennis had been honest about the things that Alex did that annoyed him. If Dennis said Alex was worth taking a chance on, then he really thought that. He wasn’t going to bullshit Logan.

It was a question of whether Logan could risk himself.

He’d just gone through the pain of watching someone he loved treat him like he didn’t matter. He’d trusted Tim with everything. And he’d known Tim since high school. That was a good decade of knowing and believing in him. If Tim could turn on him, then how could he trust someone that he barely knew not to do the same?

But then… he hadn’t taken a risk like this since he’d first gotten together with Tim in high school. Wasn’t it good practice to put himself out there for Alex? He’d been bold, moving far away to a place he’d never been where he didn’t know anyone. After all of that, asking someone out was nothing, right?

Unfortunately, Alex didn’t seem to be getting the hint.

Logan first tried by offering up the book he found on old trails. He’d thought it would be helpful, but Alex acted almost offended. Then when he’d come to Logan later, friendly, he hadn’t gotten Logan’s hint about taking him out for a hike.

He was going to have to be more obvious for Alex, and Logan really, really didn’t want to do that. For once he wanted Alex to be able to read his mind and know that Logan wanted to try a date with him. But that didn’t seem likely. Just blurting out “I like you” or “would you like to go out on Friday” made his stomach feel like it was twisting up into knots and he almost wanted to throw up.

Perhaps he could phrase it as a friend sort of thing? That would take the pressure off both of them, right?

Logan occupied himself in the meantime with organizing the books and dealing with new shipments. They did a pretty fair trade in books, especially the morbid ones, which made no sense to Logan. Perhaps it was a way to prove that they had defied death? To brag to friends that they went to the canyon and bought this book all about how these other people had died but they hadn’t?

He was straightening out some books on a display that had been knocked over—parents needed to keep a better eye on their damn kids—when he felt someone walking up behind him. He stood abruptly and turned around.

Oh, fuck. It was Alex. Looking like Indiana Jones, as usual. Scruffy in a way that was attractive instead of annoying, hair sticking up a bit. Logan wouldn’t have been surprised if the man’s eyes had started fucking twinkling or something.

“Hey.” Alex smiled at him. It was sort of like the first smile that Alex had given him. Back when they’d first met, and Logan had retreated behind snootiness to hide the fact that he was having a heart attack. But it was a little more tentative than that smile. It was a little more… shy.

‘Shy’ wasn’t a word that Logan would have ever associated with Alex. The man oozed confidence.

“Hello.” Logan tried to keep his tone polite. His instinct with Alex—with anyone who made him feel wrong-footed—was to be rude, so they would go away. At least if they thought he hated them, then he didn’t have to worry about dealing with them later. Irritation was a wall that he could hide behind.

But he didn’t want to hide behind that wall anymore. Besides, he could always go back to irritation if Alex turned out to be a jerk despite what Jane and Dennis had said.

“So, what are you doing this weekend?”

“Just reading, most likely. I’m not really the sort of person who goes out.”

Alex blinked a few times, looking unsure. Crap. Logan tried to smile, but he worried it came out more as a grimace. “Why, what are you up to?”

“I was thinking of hiking one of the easier trails that I haven’t done in a while. I usually do the harder trails and let the other guys lead the beginner stuff. But I wanted to walk it again. I thought you might want to come with me, since you said you hadn’t done any of the trails before.” Alex gave him a smile that Logan desperately hoped he was right in calling flirtatious. “Which is just not right, seeing as you work here.”

“You don’t have to take me if you don’t want to,” Logan blurted out.

Alex raised an eyebrow. “And you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

“No, I do—I would like to.” God dammit, his palms were sweating. This was what he got for not actually trying a new relationship since high school. “If you really would like me to go with you, I’d love to.”

“So it’s a date then.”

“A—a date, date?” Logan asked. He needed clarification, or he was going to lose his goddamn mind before the weekend arrived.

Alex’s jaw tensed like he was valiantly struggling to hide an amused smile. “Yeah, like a date, date. Like a ‘you’re cute, and I’m going to try getting to know you better’ date.”

“I’m sorry I was rude,” Logan added, before his courage could fail him. “I was—I’m not good with people, really, and I didn’t… I didn’t expect you.”

“You didn’t expect me?”

Logan gestured at Alex. Alex looked down at himself, then back at Logan, still appearing confused.

“I didn’t expect… being attracted to someone.”

Alex grinned at him. “Well you know what they say, it’s always when you’re not looking for it that something comes to you.”

“In that case, I need to talk to the people in charge, because that’s a weird way to run the universe.”

Alex gave a bemused laugh. “So you do have a sense of humor. I’d wondered.”

“I’m told it’s an odd one.” Or a boring one, if you asked Tim.

Alex tilted his head, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked speculatively at Logan. “I think I like it.”

Logan quickly looked away so that Alex hopefully wouldn’t see him blushing. “Ah, good, that’s—that’s good.”

“Would you like to meet here, then?” Alex asked. “Say, seven a.m.?”

“That works.” Logan tried to keep himself from saying anything stupid and messing this up in the last couple minutes.

“Great, I’ll see you then.” Alex gave him one last smile and then left the bookstore.

Logan let out his breath in a slow, careful exhale.

He had a date with Alex. Somehow.

Now he just had to worry about not fucking it up.