It was only Tuesday, but Leo was exhausted.

“You wanna do something after work?”

That sure as hell wasn’t going to help matters. He pushed back the urge to sigh, instead giving Victor a polite smile. “What were you thinking?”

“Go out for drinks, cruise for chicks… the old days.”

Those weren’t like any old days Leo remembered, but Victor seemed to be reminiscing every time they bumped into each other at the station or even at a scene. Letting him get it out of his system might help.

“Okay, sure. When? Today?”

“Sure, man!” Victor grinned, but the expression felt like a challenge rather than an invitation. “Or do you already have plans?”

Leo hadn’t seen Dustin at work on Monday, since he’d been off and at school all day. Today, their paths hadn’t crossed once yet. Safe to say there were no plans yet, although Leo kind of wanted there to be. “What? No.”

“Good, good.” Victor leaned into Leo’s cubicle, his thumb hooked through his belt. “You know what the guys have been saying, right?”

“About me?” Leo asked, folding his arms as he leaned back in his office chair. He had a pretty damn good idea, and he was also pretty sure Victor was full of it. He hadn’t heard whispers about himself, and he hadn’t even seen any sideways glances. “Shoot.”

“Well, uh… you know. You’re back in town a little different now.”

“Spit it out. You think I’m gay?”

Victor almost choked. “I didn’t say that, man,” he said, holding his palms out and up, facing Leo. Like he was trying to apologize or calm him down… like it was an insult, even.

“It’s not an insult,” Leo told him. “Just a statement of fact. Not a true fact, but there you are.”

“Oh.” Victor’s chest swelled as if with relief. “I mean, cool. Nobody cares around here.”

“But they still talk about it?” Leo challenged.

Victor cleared his throat. “Well, you know. You came to that cake auction with Dustin—you two baked a cake together.” He snickered.

“You know, you missed an important question,” Leo said. He grabbed his empty coffee mug and shouldered past Victor, but the annoying prick followed him to the lunch room.

“What’s that?”

“It’s not that important to you if you didn’t think about it.” Leo pointedly glanced toward the forensics lab as they passed that hallway.

Victor’s brow furrowed. “Are you buddies with Dustin?”

Leo almost laughed. It’s like bi doesn’t even exist in their minds. God, it probably doesn’t in his. “Sure. Yeah. He’s probably my best friend in town right now.”

“Ah, man. You could have told me!” Victor insisted, shadowing him all the way to the coffee maker as he set down his mug and grabbed a second mug. “I didn’t realize you weren’t settling in.”

“I am. I don’t need pity dates, even of the friendship variety,” Leo said drily. “So, you want drinks tonight? But only if I’m not gay?”

“Oh, I never said that. I just don’t want people thinking it’s more than it is.”

Leo’s lips quirked. “Man, you could walk into a gay bar and everyone there would know you’re straight. You got nothing to worry about.”

Victor took it as a compliment. He stood straighter, his thumbs returning to his belt like they were supposed to be holstered there. “Right. Right,” he said to himself. “So come grab me on your way out of the place.”

“Right you are. No coffee for me, thanks. I’m quitting.”

“Sure,” Leo answered, pouring the second mug of coffee as he listened to Victor’s retreating footsteps. He shook his head. Victor really had always been that bad, he was willing to bet.

A few minutes later, in the doorway of the forensics lab, he paused. It was awkward to try to knock on the door with a mug of coffee in each hand, so he swayed from side to side for a moment like a fucking willow in the wind.

Dustin looked like he was deep in thought, staring at the computer monitor like he hadn’t seen or heard a thing. But just as Leo was about to clear his throat, his nostrils flared. “Coffee? Who’s bribing me today?”

“I wouldn’t call it a bribe,” Leo answered coyly. He slowly approached Dustin, and Dustin’s eyes quickly turned to his. He noted that speed with which Dustin’s attention shifted to him. Surely that was a good thing, right?

“Oh. Then what is it?”

“A good-will gesture?” Leo winked. “Since I haven’t seen you in a while.”

Dustin smirked. “A whole day and a half.” He lowered his voice, though, to that covert half-whisper that they used when they were referencing their out-of-office shenanigans.

“It feels like a fucking long time,” Leo admitted. He set down Dustin’s mug next to him, but kept an appropriate distance away as he studied the images on the screen.

These weren’t anything like the photos he was used to taking. Fine-grain, high-definition images of… what the hell was that, even?

“Cotton,” Dustin answered the unasked question. “I’m trying to figure out if it’s twine or something else.” His eyes strayed back to the screen, his brow furrowing. “The pattern is consistent…” he trailed off in a murmur, sounding like he was composing a report in his head.

Leo figured Dustin could use a distraction from the grim pictures on the desk. “So, you’ll never guess who asked me out,” he said with a smile.

Dustin nearly spilled the coffee. He sucked in a quick breath and checked the front of his lab coat, then looked up at Leo. “Who?”

The reaction said more than Dustin had probably meant to. Leo tried to hide the pleasure. “Victor.”

“What?”

“As a friend. Guy to guy. Mano-a-mano. Just two bros being bros.” Leo rolled his eyes. “Need I go on?”

“Oh, Jesus,” Dustin muttered under his breath. “Just tell him to fuck off back to his hillbilly tribe.”

“I’m gonna venture a guess that you guys don’t get along these days, either.”

“Luckily, he ain’t in charge of anything,” Dustin answered carefully. “So management here has some sense. I don’t usually deal directly with him.”

“Taking that as a yes.” Leo sipped his coffee, breathing in the wonderful scent. “So we’re doing drinks tonight.”

“We—oh. You and Victor.” Dustin smiled tightly and looked back at the screen. “That’ll be fun.”

Leo hesitated. “I’d ask if you wanna come along, but…”

“Dangle the bait a little closer to the lion’s mouth, why don’t you?” Dustin asked, but he didn’t sound angry. It was a dry, sarcastic sort of comment hiding something else that Dustin wasn’t letting him in on.

Leo was getting another call. “Damn it. Crime never takes a break, does it?”

Dustin looked back at him, the air instantly clearer between them. He seemed sincere as he said, “Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

“Get me some clear photos.”

Leo saluted with his mug and drained the remnants as he headed for his desk to grab his gear. Before he got to the scene, nobody could touch a thing. So time was always of the essence.

Even when he had a half-unsaid conversation to finish with Dustin.

* * *

“Turned out to be a damn vehicular break-and-enter. Nothing out of the ordinary,” Leo said. He licked the head from the edge of the glass as he took that first delicious sip of his third beer.

“Good. Great,” Victor answered, his eyes on the bartender. She looked exactly his type, from what Leo remembered. This was going to be a long, boring night if Victor was serious about chasing chicks.

“So, tell me what’s new,” Leo pressed, trying to change the course of events before he wound up losing his mind from boredom and playing wingman to a cocky asshole he didn’t really like anymore.

He hadn’t even had another chance to talk to Dustin. By the time he’d documented the scene, Dustin had gone home, leaving him to collect Victor and head for the bar.

Ugh. If this was what having a social life was like, he’d take being a loner.

“Huh? Oh,” Victor looked back at him, sipping his beer. “Not a whole lot, I gotta be honest, man. It’s not like you. Shipped all ’round the world, being a hero and shit. Some of us gotta keep working the beat. The small-time cases. Keeping law and order.”

Leo’s brows furrowed. “That’s the other thing. Since when were you all law and order?”

“You remember my dad, right?”

Ohhh. Leo had nearly forgotten: Victor’s dad had been the sheriff. “He retired now?”

“Yep. But he wanted to get his boy in. The new sheriff hand-picked me,” Victor bragged.

Leo didn’t think much of that recommendation since Victor had apparently stayed in the same job for the last few years with no plans of changing that, but ambition had never been Victor’s strong suit. Come to think of it, what had been? Coasting by and copying others’ work?

“So, how’d you get into the photography side of things? It looks kinda interesting. And a lot easier than chasing perps.”

There it was. Victor was hoping for the sweet gig—the easy job.

Fighting back irritation and the urge to tell him how much technical knowledge went into every shot, Leo shrugged. “You know I was always taking pictures. Military wanted me to do it. They taught me a lot. Came back, the job was open, they sent me for a quick course, and then I started in November.”

“That’s like… two, three months? You liking it?” Victor asked. “It as easy as it looks?”

“I like it enough, but no. It’s pretty hard. A lot of different technical shit. It’s not just iPhone cameras,” Leo told Victor.

“Yeah. Yeah,” Victor hummed, leaning back on his bar stool. “How would I get into something like that?”

“Start with a photography class, I guess. Learn the basics. They use digital now, but knowing your darkroom basics will teach you the fundamentals.”

“Digital’s easy. I like digital,” Victor said as if he hadn’t heard him. “They probably do digital photography classes. Say, you’re at the college, aren’t you?”

How the hell he knew that, Leo had no idea. “Yeah. Part-time classes. The bosses here are great about working with me.”

“How are those college chicks?”

“Very eighteen,” Leo said pointedly, but that didn’t seem to deter Victor, so he added, “so I dunno. That’d be pretty creepy. I’m sure as hell not in their league.”

“Oh, come on. Don’t put yourself down, man. War hero, police hero, you’ve got every stripe of hero.” Several beers down, Victor was the worse for wear already. “The heroes, man. They like the heroes.”

“And they’re all dating each other like they should be,” Leo said. “Being idiots while they’re young and green. Learning how to hold down a relationship. Speaking of which…”

“Nah, man. None of that ball-and-chain for me,” Victor waved dismissively. “Too much sweet candy out there to stick to one lollipop.”

Leo shook his head and snorted. “Yeah? And when you’re thirty-something and you’ve never had a serious relationship? I mean, learning that shit late is hard.”

“You thinking about dating?” Victor asked. He swayed slightly, looking at Leo.

“Thinking about it,” Leo echoed. “Yeah. But I’m learning to even, you know, make friends in class. That kind of shit. I never really took the time. The military throws a bunch of you together and you’re workmates and buddies right away. A couple of mature students have a club or whatever, though. Coffee club. They asked me yesterday if I wanna join. It’s weird, though. They’re all coming back to school after degrees or kids or whatever. And then there’s the freshman. I’m like… in-between.”

God, it was nice to vent, even if he didn’t feel like he could fully trust Victor.

“That’s rough.” Victor didn’t have any particular conviction in his voice.

But more importantly, it gave Leo the chance to say, “So I might not be able to hang out much. Between homework and now… I dunno, this society… and work and everything.”

“Oh, no. You do you, man.” Victor hiccupped. “Hey, when that chick bends over, you can see her nips.”

“Cool.” Leo stared into the distance and drank up faster.

It was the most stilted conversation he’d had with a supposed friend in ages, but it at least confirmed that he had no interest in being friends with this guy anymore.

As long as he wasn’t gonna cause trouble when it came out that he and Dustin were together, he was happy to leave this friendship where it belonged: the past.

He had other, newer, better friendships waiting for him. Starting with Dustin, but not finishing there.

The more people he had around him, the better.

“Wonder if she’s doing anything for V-Day. You know,” Victor promised when Leo stared blankly. “Valentine’s.”

Leo snorted again. “That’s not what that means in my world. Yeah. She’s got a ring on, so I bet she is.”

“Oh. Shit,” Victor sighed. “Why are the hot ones always taken?”

Wait… He said Valentine’s. “Man, what day is it this year?”

“Next Wednesday. You and me, man,” Victor said, jabbing a finger into Leo’s chest. “We’ll go out on the prowl. Pick up some lonely singles. It’ll be great. Yeah!”

“Maybe,” Leo hedged. He swallowed the rest of his beer so fast his throat burned. “Anyway, I gotta run. Work tomorrow.”

“Fucking work.” Victor slapped his back and gave him a thumbs-up. “See ya, man.”

“See you.”

Leo had never been so glad to walk out of a bar. He shook his head as he hailed a car, not caring how long he had to wait on the sidewalk as long as he didn’t have to listen to that guy anymore.

The one useful thing he’d said all night was two words: Valentine’s Day.

What was Dustin thinking about it? Was it weird to acknowledge it? Hell, they weren’t even officially together. They’d just kinda-sorta agreed not to sleep with other people. That didn’t even mean dating yet.

He’d never experienced the awkward early dating stage where Valentine’s Day was way too soon and neither person knew whether to acknowledge it, but it suddenly hit him.

We’re gonna have to talk about this.

If only he weren’t off work for the next couple days—lies to Victor to get out of there aside.

That meant a text or a phone call, which were even more awkward.

Maybe he’d let it go until Friday. Make it casual, like he’d forgotten the day was coming up. They could do something last-minute and low-pressure.

Yeah. Low-pressure sounded great to him.