Peter knows that Drew isn’t his boyfriend. He’s a boy and he’s just a friend but he’s a boy friend who he had the best sex of his life with and now he’s bringing him to meet all his friends, who are basically his family, and, yeah, okay, Peter is a little nervous.

He goes into Nick’s house, yelling out a greeting and shucking off his coat. He throws it on the coat rack and takes the cake from Drew’s hands so he can take his off, too.

Nick comes into the entryway, eyes wide and he grins broadly. “Oh!” He turns his head towards the living room. “Peter brought a date!”

He yells it and Peter’s entire face erupts into flames. He knows it does because Nick laughs heartily and happily.

“Drew,” Nick comes over and shakes his hand, two large pumps. Drew smiles at him, but it’s a little nervous, Peter can tell, and he wishes he knew how to save the guy from Nick. “Nice to see you not drunk in a bar.”

Peter wants to punch his best friend. Somehow, though, it looks like Drew’s relaxed.

“It’s nice to see you while I’m not drunk in a bar,” he replies.

Nick laughs. He points at him, slapping him on the shoulder, and turning to Peter. “I like him. He’s a keeper.”

“Not mine to keep,” Peter mumbles, shaking his head. He thrusts the cake at Nick to distract him from teasing them. “Look. Drew made you a cake.”

As predicted, Nick is suddenly completely distracted. “A cake! For me!”

Drew shrugs. Peter bets that if his hair was pulled back, they’d see bright red ears, though. “Happy birthday.”

Nick turns on his heel abruptly, going to the living room. Peter rolls his eyes and grabs Drew’s hand, squeezing it once, before letting go and following Nick into the living room. He can feel Drew not far behind him.

“Look!” Nick is saying when they get there. “The new guy cares about me more than all of you sons of bitches.”

Allison looks away from her conversation with Ash, who waves at Peter. He waves back, ignoring Nick’s tirade.

“Way to show us up, Drew,” Allison says, but winks to show she’s kidding.

There’s a slight moment where Drew is quiet and they’re all waiting to see how he replies. Peter regrets forcing him to come to this.

Then Drew shrugs. “Can’t help it. We all know I’m the best baker in town.”

There’s another pause and then everyone’s laughing. Peter grins and throws an arm around Drew’s shoulder, so relieved that he’s nearly dizzy from it. “All of you better know that.”

“Why?” Drew frowns.

“Duh,” Damien stands up and pours two glasses of wine. He hands one to Drew, raising his own slightly. “You’re the enemy.”

“Ah,” Drew nods while everyone else laughs. “I forgot.”

“How could you?” Ash shakes her head. “Doesn’t he remind you constantly? I’m Ashley, by the way.”

Drew shakes her hand and Nick sets the cake down on the table, getting between them. “Don’t get too comfy with Ash. She’ll set you up on a date with someone she swears is perfect for you and then you’ll find out he has a literal Dear John.”

Everyone laughs and Peter blinks. “Wait, what?”

Peter sits on the couch and everyone settles around the room, getting comfortable as Nick delves into a huge story involving an Italian restaurant, Ash’s matchmaking skills, and a missing Navy SEAL. It’s elaborate and Nick seems to be playing the hesitantly jilted lover, but he’s laughing so hard in some parts that he can’t continue for a few minutes, so no one seems to feel that bad.

“Holy shit, man,” Drew shakes his head. “Small towns are so dramatic.”

“Um, yeah,” Allison tosses her hair. “What else are we supposed to do around here?”

Everyone hums their agreement. The conversation flows from there and the evening passes quickly, effortlessly. Peter’s kind of shocked by how easily Drew fits into their group. He’s sitting a little too straight and his answers are occasionally a bit stilted but he seems to be trying and Peter isn’t quite sure how to articulate how much that means to him.

He can’t quite say how much Drew means to him.

He shakes the thought away and stands abruptly. Damien stops talking mid sentence and everyone looks at him. “Cake?”

“Sure,” Nick says. “It’s pay attention to me time.”

Peter rolls his eyes. “As if most nights aren’t.”

Peter goes to the kitchen, Nick trailing after him. The conversation picks back up in the living room, a low thrum of laughter and stories.

Nick closes the kitchen door behind them, spinning around with a huge grin on his face. “So.”

Peter sighs and digs in the cupboard for enough saucers. “So?”

“You guys dating?”

Peter groans. “No, I told you, we’re not.”

Nick’s eyebrows furrow as if genuinely confused. “Why? You like him.”

Peter shrugs. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Dude,” Nick sighs. “It does. You’re, like, chronically uncaring. It’s the only bad trait you’ve even got. But you care about this guy in a way that’s pathological. Even when you hated him for those, like, twenty minutes, you cared. And you never brought Kyle to my place. You either hung out with his friends or you didn’t see him at all. And now, you’re bringing someone you aren’t even technically seeing to our family fucking dinners—”

“I didn’t think it was a big deal!”

“It’s not in a bad way,” Nick says. “But—you like him. You, like, really like him.”

Peter’s too tired with this conversation to deny it. “So what?”

“So—tell him.”

“He doesn’t like me like that,” Peter’s already tried to explain this to himself. It sucks just as much to explain it to someone else.

“Bullshit,” Nick grabs a knife and a fistful of forks. “Anyone with half a brain can see the guy’s into you. Just do it, man.”

He leaves the kitchen and Peter trails after him, trying not to feel hope in his stomach.

Drew looks up when he comes back into the living room, shooting him a small smile. Peter’s heart flutters.

They sing a quick round of happy birthday and then Nick is cutting the cake, giving each of them a generous portion.

The first bite creates a chorus of praises and every new bite is an encore.

“Dude,” Nick groans out, scraping the last of the crumbs on his fork. “What the everlasting fuck?”

Drew laughs. He pushes the remainder of his cake onto Peter’s plate absently and pushes his hair behind his ears. Peter grins at him and takes another bite.

“This is so goddamn good,” Damien agrees. “I am beside myself.”

Drew smiles. “Thanks.”

“Why the hell are you working for Sal?” Allison asks, around a huge mouthful of cake. “He’s an ass and you’re an angel, apparently.”

Peter’s ears perk up and he watches Drew as he grimaces. “He really is an ass. But he was hiring, so.” He shrugs.

“That’s dumb,” Nick says, cutting himself a second slice. He moans around his first bite. “You should be working for Peter.”

They both freeze.

Allison laughs. “What, you seriously haven’t thought about it? Peter makes the best food. Drew makes goddamn miracles, and together gross old Sal will be run out of business.”

Peter swallows around a lump in his throat. “Well, I’m not sure about that. People liked it even before Drew showed up.”

Drew scoffs. “Please. Once I’m gone, he’ll be run out of town.”

Everyone looks at one another. “Why?”

Drew cocks his head before looking at Peter. “I told you. All his stuff is frozen. Once people find out, no one will go there. Your food is better and it’s fresh.”

Peter absolutely does not preen.

Ash hums. “How will people find out, though?”

Drew shrugs, but he’s smirking. “Well, I have a feeling it’ll get out.”

Nick leans closer, wiggling his eyebrows. “What oh what did our dear Drew do?”

“Well, I assume you’ve all met Martha.” Eyes widen in understanding. “I might have let it slip when I dropped off some muffins.” Drew winks at Nick.

Ash laughs and, after a second, everyone else joins in. “Oh, hell, Pete,” Ash says, grinning. “If Drew comes to work for you, there won’t be any reason to go to Sal’s at all.”

Peter looks at Drew with wide eyes.

Drew’s smiling back, not looking half as concerned as Peter feels.

They stare long enough that someone clears their throat and then the topic changes.

The conversation and wine flows till close to two and then Drew’s yawning, leaning against Peter more than he usually does.

Peter’s also having a hard time hiding his yawns and stopping himself from wrapping his arms around Drew and it’s doing absolutely nothing to dispel the innuendos his friends are throwing at them.

“Okay,” he says, straightening Drew up, and standing. “We’re going to go. See you for breakfast tomorrow?”

After celebration tradition: breakfast at Amelia’s.

Everyone nods their confirmation, hugging him goodbye. The girls hug Drew and the guys shake his hand. Nick winks at Peter from over Drew’s head and he tries very hard not to blush.

Drew tells Nick to keep the cake tray until the cake is gone so it’ll last longer and Nick tells him not to worry, that he’ll bring it to breakfast tomorrow.

They put on their coats, call out another goodbye, and then leave the party.

The cold air wakes them up a little. Peter hesitates for only a minute before wrapping his arm around Drew’s waist.

Drew leans against him, smiling up. Peter knows they’ve both had a bit to drink, but Peter’s seen him drunk, and he thinks maybe this is just Drew, being Drew.

“So,” Peter says, his voice crackling through their silence like the wind does between them. He tries to keep his tone light, as if telling a joke. “Think you’d want to come work for me?”

From the corner of his eyes, Peter can see Drew frowning and chewing on his bottom lip. “That doesn’t sound temporary.”

Peter’s heart skips a beat. “Do you want it to be?”

Drew stops walking, hands wrapping around Peter’s arm to stop him, too. They’re in the middle of the sidewalk, a few blocks away from Nick’s and a few away from Peter’s. The night is dark and the streets are empty and Peter can feel something between them, waiting and ready to change irrevocably, one way or another.

Drew releases Peter’s arm and swallows hard. Then he does it again. “I—your friends thought we were dating.”

Peter nods. He can’t say anything.

“And you—you corrected them.” Drew looks up and his shoulders square, jaw raising. “But you didn’t have to.”

All the air rushes out of Peter’s lungs. “I didn’t?”

“No,” Drew says. It comes out quietly, riding on an exhale. “At least, for me. You didn’t have to if you did it for me.”

“I wouldn’t have,” Peter can barely breathe. “If it was for me.”

Drew’s eyes fall to Peter’s lips before rising back to his eyes, getting stuck there. “And the job would be, what?”

Peter doesn’t know the right answer. He wants in a way he never has before, cares about his words and his posture and the outcome of this conversation so heavily that it bangs up against him.

“It would be—” he hesitates and then swallows. “Permanent. Or, at least, as permanent as you want.”

“Semi-permanent,” Drew suggests, closing the space between them. “With room for growth.”

“Always room for growth,” Peter agrees in a whisper.

They’re a hair’s breadth away from each other and Peter’s heart hammers.

“If you were thinking about staying,” Peter says. “If you thought maybe you could stay here, for a little while—you should.”

He waits. Drew stares at him and Peter’s whole body feels like its drenched in gasoline. Any second he could be set on fire and he feels dizzy from the fumes.

He waits to hear what Drew says.

In the end, Drew doesn’t say anything.

He throws his arms around Peter’s neck and kisses him instead, knocking the breath out of Peter and holding him tightly to him.

Peter might not know all of the kisses Drew gives yet, might not know his every type and intention beneath his lips, but he’s pretty sure he knows what this one means.

He’s pretty sure a few blocks away, his friends are exchanging money. And he’s got a brand new pastry chef.

He’s pretty sure this kiss means things are changed, forever, for the better.