“How are you feeling?” asked Vincent as he entered the apartment. He was carrying several armloads of groceries.

“Better,” said Hunter, closing the front door. It was true too. He still felt a little queasy and the thought of most foods made him want to run for the bathroom, but he had managed to keep down all of the soup that Luke had given him.

“I brought you some supplies,” said Vincent, unloading the grocery bags onto the counter tops. In a way it almost felt like a repeat of the previous night.

“You don’t need to keep buying me stuff,” said Hunter with a little laugh. “What happened to letting me have my independence?”

“That doesn’t mean I can’t give you things,” insisted Vincent. “I got several different medicines for upset stomachs. I wasn’t sure which one would actually work the best, or even which flavor you’d like so I got some options to work from. I bought a bunch of crackers. We’ve got a wide variety to choose from too. Saltine, cheese-its, wheat thins, um...these off brand things, plus some of the more expensive ones that you’re supposed to eat with cheese and wine but I figured I might as well grab them just in case...”

“You’re sweet,” said Hunter, cutting off Vincent before he started unloading another bag. “I honestly am feeling a lot better though. Luke made me some so—“

“Hunter...”

“Vincent, I don’t know what you have against him, but he took care of me today. He’s been nothing but friendly towards me and hasn’t given me any reason to doubt his sincerity.” Hunter wasn’t trying to start an argument, but he couldn’t understand Vincent’s irrational dislike of Luke. Or maybe it was completely rational and Luke just hadn’t shown his true colors. Either way, Hunter had nothing to go off of save for his own experiences and Vincent had given him nothing concrete.

“I know,” said Vincent, shaking his head slowly. “Just please, for my sake, please stop seeing him. I can’t trust him and knowing you’re spending so much time around him has me worried. You should have texted me and I would’ve come right over to take care of you.”

“Vincent...” Hunter didn’t want to make that promise. He liked Luke and he was arguably better company than Vincent had ever been. But Vincent had done nothing but try to take care of Hunter since that night at the music hall. He’d gone out of his way to try and make sure Hunter had everything he needed. Even though he usually seemed to miss the mark, he put in so much effort that Hunter was beginning to feel guilty for being so stubborn about this.

“Why is this so important to you?” asked Hunter as he slowly lowered himself into a chair at the kitchen table.

Vincent sighed and leaned against the kitchen counter. “You know how I feel about you, Hunter. And you and Luke spending all that time alone together. Well, you weren’t just friends in the past. He’s one of your ex-boyfriends just like I was. Only unlike me, he was manipulative and obsessive. I know I may seem a bit clingy, but that’s just because of your accident. For Luke, there was no reason other than the fact that he wanted to control you.”

Hunter frowned and looked down at his hands. It felt like every time he turned around lately he was running into ex-boyfriends. Just how many people had he dated exactly? This information was only Vincent’s side of the story though. Whether or not he’d accurately depicted everything was still a matter for debate.

“How am I just supposed to cut him off? We’re neighbors. We run into each other in the hallways and outside of the building,” explained Hunter. “And there’s no way I’m selling my apartment just because of this.”

“That’s fine,” said Vincent. “Just avoid being alone with him, that’s all I want.”

But I like being alone with him, thought Hunter. “He’s one of my only friends,” he said aloud.

“I know it’s difficult. But it’s for the best. He’s not really your friend anyway. Believe me, he’s just trying to bide his time until he can do something to take advantage of you.” Vincent approached the table and laid a hand on Hunter’s shoulder.

“I don’t want you to worry about me,” said Hunter softly, looking up at Vincent.

“I appreciate that.”

“But I can’t just cutoff one of the only friends I have without proof that they’re taking advantage of me,” Hunter said emphatically rising to his feet.

Vincent clenched his fists, and for a moment Hunter was afraid he was going to be hit. But Vincent withdrew and began loading up his grocery bags once more.

“Vincent...”

Vincent said nothing as he hoisted the bags into his arms and made his way back to the front door.

“Vincent can we please just talk about this?” asked Hunter, alarmed by the rapidity with which Vincent had completely shutdown.

A moment later the front door was flung open, and Vincent marched out into the hall without another word.

Hunter was distraught as he approached the open door and peered out into the hall at Vincent’s retreating form. Was he being unreasonable? Vincent had done a lot for him and he hadn’t asked for anything in return. This single request wasn’t really so difficult to understand, was it?

If he was in love with someone, would he be okay with them being alone with someone that fit their romantic interest? But that’s just it, wasn’t it? He wasn’t in love with anyone.

He knew how Vincent felt about him, but he still didn’t return that same level of affection. In fact, more and more lately, he’d been finding it difficult to even consider Vincent his friend. In a way he felt like a demanding childhood friend that claimed friendship based only on the fact that they’d known each other for a long time.

That sort of thing didn’t hold any weight for Hunter. Especially not when he had Luke going out of his way to avoid that sort of thing. Luke was doing his best to make sure their friendship was based on their current interactions with one another and thus far hadn’t demanded anything of Hunter.

Running his hands through his hair in confusion, Hunter shut the front door. He paced uncertainly back and forth across his apartment several times, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do next.

In a way, he didn’t think he needed to do anything. It was Vincent that was having a problem, wasn’t it?

Frustrated by the entire situation, he went to the refrigerator in search of food.

The smell of twelve different kinds of takeout and leftover spaghetti assaulted his nose. His stomach instantly took to the warpath once more, and Hunter fled to the bathroom.

***

“I’M REALLY SORRY TO bother you like this,” apologized Hunter as he sat at the kitchen table with a glass of water.

“I told you to text me if you got sick again,” Luke reassured him. “It’s no trouble at all.”

Luke stood in the kitchen and was transferring all of Hunter’s leftover food into Tupperware containers. From time to time, a whiff of food would reach Hunter and a wave of nausea would hit him like a brick wall. Thankfully, his stomach was empty now which made it easier to keep things under control.

“The spaghetti didn’t bother you the night we made it, did it?” asked Luke, looking over at Hunter with concern.

“No,” said Hunter, shaking his head slowly. “And I had Chinese with my mom after I got out of the hospital and it was fine then.”

“You didn’t have a fever earlier. Do you mind if I feel your head now?” asked Luke, slowly approaching the table.

“Go ahead.” Hunter shrugged.

Luke pressed a cool hand against his forehead and Hunter realized that he was feeling a bit warm. Maybe he did have a fever after all.

“You feel normal to me,” said Luke, shaking his head slowly. “Maybe you should think about going to see your doctor. This sort of thing isn’t really normal.”

“I felt fine all day after you left,” insisted Hunter. “It was just the smell in the fridge that made my stomach upset. I’ll be fine.”

“Throwing up because you smelled leftovers isn’t really the definition of ‘fine,’ ” said Luke with a little chuckle. “Obviously I can’t force you and I’m not going to nag you about it. But you should consider it, okay? Especially if it happens again.”

“If it happens again, absolutely,” agreed Hunter, sitting back in his chair.

As he watched Luke wash out some empty dishes, his mind drifted back to the conversation he’d had with Vincent. He wondered if he should share Vincent’s concerns with Luke. Of course, if he really was the kind of person Vincent had warned him about then telling him all of that would only cause him to be more subtle about his negative behavior.

“Okay, so there’s more chicken soup in this container on the top shelf,” said Luke, showing him the container before putting it back in the fridge. “The rest of the food is in Tupperware on the lower shelves. The smells should all be contained so you don’t have to smell them unless you want to. I’m going to go ahead and take the rest of the lasagna home with me so it doesn’t go bad.”

“That’s fine,” said Hunter, rising from his chair and following Luke to the front door. “Thank you again for this. You have no idea how grateful I am right now.”

“Honestly, it was nothing. I’m glad you asked for my help. Makes me think you were actually listening earlier when I told you it was okay to rely on others sometimes.” Luke laughed to himself. “I can come by in the morning to check on you if you’d like?”

“I should be okay,” said Hunter, his independent streak refusing to allow him to grow complacent. “I’ll let you know if I need anything.”

“All right, good night.” Without another word Luke was out the door heading back towards his own apartment.

No fighting. No trying to convince Hunter his way was the right way. He made an offer, and when it was turned down, he accepted it and moved on. Were those the actions of a manipulative person?

Hunter shook his head slowly and closed the front door. If he took things at face value, then the only possible answer to his situation was Vincent was making up things about Luke because he was jealous. That made sense, right?

But it was ridiculous because he had nothing to be jealous about. Did he?

Hunter glanced towards the refrigerator and the kitchen that had been left absolutely spotless. Not only had Luke come to his rescue, but he’d left everything—including Hunter—in a better state than he’d found it. If Luke was a manipulative and obsessive boyfriend then he was certainly putting on all the charms to try and win Hunter back to his side.

But Hunter couldn’t quite bring himself to deny that it was a possibility. Yet.