“Um, if you want to borrow anything to sleep in, I have stuff. It’s probably too big for you, though.”

Leo was fussing over Dustin and he knew it, but he couldn’t help himself. It had been so damn long since he’d had anyone in his house, and now… he didn’t want Dustin to leave. Thank God he was staying the night.

He’d already offered again to sleep on the couch, but when Dustin turned him down again, he was glad. Now he was patting Dustin’s pillow and testing the spring in it while he talked.

Dustin was giving him an expression he couldn’t quite read—fond, maybe? He helped by interpreting it. “You’re adorable. You might be the most adorable man I’ve ever met, and I know quite a few.”

Leo hardly knew how to handle the compliment. He cleared his throat and waved a hand. “I’m just saying. Naked sleeping endangers balls.”

“I’ll take the risk,” Dustin grinned, sitting on the edge of the bed to casually start stripping. “Better than Local Man Found Drowned in Extra Fabric.”

Leo burst out laughing. He was sitting on the other side of the bed in just his boxers, almost vibrating with anticipation. Not just at the show, either—at the whole prospect of this. It felt exciting and new and completely right.

He was glad Dustin liked him. He was even weirdly glad Dustin liked his house. It was a small place—a bungalow with two bedrooms, the second of which was being used as a study. Not that he was doing much studying there this semester, but it was nice to have an extra living room to hang out in.

And, more importantly, a kitchen with enough counter space to bake cakes and stand around drinking beers with his future friends and talking shit. The friends were also pending, but that would come in time.

It seemed modest to him compared to what most people had around here, but he wasn’t really sure what was normal anymore. It was more space than he’d had to himself for years. Anything bigger than a closet felt like a mansion.

“Whatcha thinking?” Dustin quirked a brow.

Leo snorted. “I’m probably supposed to say something sexy about watching you strip, but I was wondering if you like my house.”

“You…” Dustin stared at him and laughed. “Why?”

That was a good question. Leo answered on instinct, without really thinking through his words. “Because I want you to like everything possible about me. Is that… a little fast? It is, isn’t it.”

“I think it’s normal.” Dustin was naked now, distractingly, but now the conversation was on boring stuff and not sex. Well done, dumbass. Leo dragged his attention back to the conversation. He’d gotten enough action in the kitchen earlier, and he wasn’t going to push his luck.

“How so?”

“Because people want to be liked.” Dustin slid under the covers and Leo hastily followed. “Doesn’t matter who we meet—a new boss, friends, a lover… we want to be liked.”

Leo thought about it for a moment. “I guess so. I don’t really have any friends yet. I was just thinking about that, too. It’s nice to hang out with someone like a normal person again.”

“It must be hard, uprooting yourself so much,” Dustin frowned sympathetically. “I haven’t really done it. I think I’m lucky that way. I used to wish that I traveled more, though…”

“The grass is always greener. There’s my wisdom for the day,” Leo smiled.

They were quiet for a moment, and the silence was more comfortable than before. The more time he spent around Dustin, the more Leo was fine with it. He didn’t feel the need to chatter or make awkward jokes or anything.

“I guess we should get to sleep soon,” Leo chuckled. “We have a long day with our coworkers tomorrow. Oh, man,” he added under his breath. “The gossip.”

“What gossip? We’re buddies,” Dustin said with a simple, bright smile. “They can fuck off.”

Just buddies? Leo gave him a look, but Dustin wasn’t clarifying, so he let it go for now.

As long as we’re buddies who give blowjobs. He’d found that way hotter than he’d expected, and he hadn’t even needed to try deep-throating this time. He’d been looking up tutorials online, but he’d forgotten to pick up popsicles today in his rush to get home in time for the date.

“You’re thinking again.”

“Sorry. I’ll turn the light off and resume my thoughts,” Leo grinned.

“Perfect,” Dustin laughed, settling down against the pillow. “As long as you think your way to sleep.”

“Sooner or later,” Leo promised.

He’d heard about it from buddies who went and spent wild weekends with women they’d just met—mostly women, some men, but his gay friends kept it quieter. Flings, even. The idea of spending a whole weekend with this guy was thrilling.

Leo smiled to himself in the darkness as he settled down for sleep. “Good night.”

“Good night,” Dustin murmured.

Leo lay awake for a long time, listening to Dustin’s breathing change to a slow, steady rhythm. Just when sleep finally came for him, he put a finger on the emotion that had been glowing in his chest like embers.

Trust.

He’s changed everything, and he doesn’t even realize it yet.

* * *

“Want some coffee?”

“I knew I liked you.” Dustin smiled broadly as he buttoned up his shirt.

Leo thought he might explode with joy. He tried not to show it and turned to pull another mug out of the cabinet. “Okay, cool. Black? Cream? Sugar?”

“I like cream and sugar.” Dustin pinched Leo’s ass. He was flirting hard, and resisting was hard. Especially with the memory of yesterday: on his knees and watching Dustin leaning on the counter above him, his head rolling back in unrestrained pleasure.

Leo snickered. “Me too.”

He hadn’t expected his day to look so much brighter just because he started it off with Dustin at his side.

“So, do you mind dropping me off at home to change before we head in?” Dustin asked, leaning on the counter and gently poking the cooled cake on the counter.

“Of course. Wouldn’t want tongues to wag,” Leo teased. “Does that look ready to decorate?”

“Yep. Did you get icing sugar?”

“I did think that far ahead. It’s in the cupboard to the left.” Leo watched Dustin grabbing kitchen tools and stayed out of his way, supplying information when needed.

Leaving the decorating to him was a great choice. Dustin seemed to enjoy himself as he sliced the cake horizontally and assembled it. He was even humming under his breath.

“What are you planning?”

“You don’t have food coloring, so just a simple checkerboard pattern,” Dustin told him. “Chocolate and vanilla, since we made one pan of each.”

“Oh, that’ll look awesome!” Leo squeezed past Dustin to get to the breadbox. “Breakfast?”

“Yes, please.”

It worked well—Dustin mixed up bowls of icing and started frosting the entire cake in white icing while Leo made them bagels, sausages, and scrambled eggs.

By the time they sat down for breakfast, Dustin had polished off two cups of coffee, but he was looking focused. Even as he ate, his gaze kept straying to the cake on the counter. The focus was absolutely fascinating.

“Just the tricky bit left, huh?” Leo prompted.

“Mmm.” Dustin looked absentminded. “That’s right.”

Leo smiled to himself. He recognized that focus from work—his coworkers would often disappear into their own thoughts as they dusted for prints or analyzed samples. Seeing the same focus applied to a cake was kind of adorable.

“I’ll take care of the dishes. You get back to the important stuff,” he waved Dustin off after breakfast.

Good thing his kitchen was big enough for both of them to work, as long as he was careful. Dustin was utterly absorbed in getting all the lines on the checkerboard straight, and Leo was not going to be the one who bumped his elbow at the wrong moment.

“Done!”

The exclamation nearly made Leo, who’d been scrolling through the news on his phone, jump out of his skin. He glanced up from the kitchen island and then headed over for a closer look. “Oh, that looks cool!”

Dustin had managed to create a few little disks of icing and stack them up to resemble checkers, while others sat on the board.

“Holy shit,” Leo revised his statement. “Really cool.”

“You think?” Dustin glanced up at him, wiping his hands on a towel. “I’m not a pro or anything.”

“No, man, that’s awesome.” Leo wrapped his arm around Dustin’s shoulders and Dustin let him pull him in for a hug. “You’re an amazing decorator. I had no idea. I’m gonna make you bake everything for me and take all the credit,” he laughed.

Dustin snorted and hugged him back. “You can try. And you provided the kitchen. Mine’s not really big enough for two. I don’t even have flour. Oh, God. I hope the inside’s good.”

“If it’s anything like you, I suspect so.” Leo smiled.

Dustin didn’t seem to mind the compliment. He flushed beet red and cleared his throat, then pulled away. “Right. We should get this ready for transport and then head to my place, right? Will we have time for anything else?”

“I doubt it. What time is the thing?”

“The thing?” Dustin laughed. “Two.”

“The thing’s at two,” Leo mumbled to himself and nodded, glancing at the clock. “Yeah, that’ll take about all our time, I think. Something made me sleep in today. Can’t really remember what. It was sexy, though… and in my bed…”

Dustin winked at him. “Come on, then. Give me a hand with these toothpicks.”

“I’ll give you both hands.”

“On the toothpicks, not my hips.”

Leo pretended to pout and slid his hands away from Dustin’s hips as he took the toothpicks from him instead. “Fine.”

“For now,” Dustin conceded, winking at him. “We’ll see how late the party runs. Or how late we stay… which depends whether we get there on time.”

Leo shivered with anticipation. “Toothpicks it is. Tell me what to do.”

Finally, moving back to Knoxville felt like the right decision. Leo smiled broadly as he followed Dustin’s directions. He was exactly where he was supposed to be.