There was something special about central Kentucky during the fall. Unlike California, which seemed to only have one season, Kentucky experienced all four—sometimes in the span of two days. This morning dawned misty and chilly, the kind of weather Jonah had missed. He threw on a pair of track pants and a light hoodie and took off down the path Uncle Richard had cut through the trees.

Already the time away seemed to be doing him some good. His head was clearer and the anxiety that had threatened to consume him was held at bay. And while he had been adamant that he didn’t want to see anyone during his time at the cabin, as it turned out, there was something nice about having Christian there with him.

Of course, Christian hardly counted as ‘anyone.’ Not in the sense that he didn’t matter to Jonah, but he’d been tagging along on McGreggor family trips since he was in elementary school. At first Jonah hadn’t understood. It wasn’t like Christian was an orphan. And then he’d met Christian’s mom. If anyone didn’t need children, it was Debbie. How Christian had lived in that trailer all those years, Jonah would never understand. He deserved better than that.

And he’d gotten it.

After they’d gotten back in from town and settled in for the night, Jonah had taken a look at Christian’s blog. When Christian had explained it to him, he’d assumed it would be a little side project with only a few posts. Instead, what he’d found was a perfectly-curated site dedicated to LGBT characters in the media and LGBT actors in Hollywood. Quite a few of them, Jonah recognized or had worked with personally. It was a thing of beauty, really. There had to be a way to get more traffic to it. Maybe he’d talk to Aspen about some promo opportunities. Or hell, maybe he’d mention it in one of the interviews he was going to have to sit through when he got back.

He rounded a bend and came to a stop as the path abruptly ended, the trees giving way to the rocky slope that bordered the Cumberland River. The sun was barely touching the horizon, the mist creating a beautiful filtered effect on the orange and pink sky. It was times like these he wished he had an eye for photography, or at the very least, poetry. Sunrises like this deserved to be immortalized. Especially since views like this didn’t exist where he lived.

There was nothing wrong with his loft. It was large enough that having parties was possible and close enough to the center of the city that everything was easily accessible. The view from the balcony displayed a sea of twinkling lights at night, and on a clear day, he could see the Hollywood sign. But it wasn’t this view.

He and Christian would have to go down to the river at some point. Maybe they could rent a canoe. It was a little bit chilly, but they could handle it. Once, when Christian had come to the cabin for Christmas with the family, they’d gone and canoed on the half-frozen water. He wasn’t sure whose idea it had been. Probably Uncle Richard’s. He was the sort of person who planned a trip to another country on a whim and decided to take up bee-keeping as a hobby with no prior experience—and convinced his entire family to go ice-canoeing.

After a few more minutes of appreciating the scenery, Jonah took off again, this time back toward the cabin. By now, Christian would probably be awake, and while Jonah didn’t want to interrupt his work, he could at least make breakfast for the both of them. Christian had surprised him when they’d gotten back to the house, revealing all the food he’d brought with him. He would have made a great Boy Scout, if Debbie had ever paid his dues or driven him to the meetings.

The heat was on full blast as he walked back into the cabin. Had it been this hot when he left, or had he gotten that warm just by running? Either way, the hoodie had to go. He stripped it off and hung it by the hood on the coat rack, then headed into the kitchen and stopped in the doorway.

Christian was staring at him, his lips parted, as though he’d just been bashed over the head with a frying pan.

“Shit. I’m sorry,” Jonah said quickly. “I thought you would still be asleep. I was going to make you breakfast.”

“Yeah, um, no. No, not asleep.” The words came out strangled.

They stood staring at each other much like they had the day before, when Jonah had surprised Christian by showing up at the cabin. Oh right. He wasn’t wearing a shirt. And Christian was gay, piped up a small voice in the back of his head.

Not that it bothered him. He had plenty of gay friends in California, and he’d played a gay man, for Christ’s sake. But still, the thought that Christian might find him attractive sent a strange thrill through him. He’d known one or two guys who’d had crushes on him, but he’d never thought his cousin’s best friend would be one of them.

“I’m… I’m gonna go put a shirt on,” he said, pointing uselessly at the hallway.

Christian just nodded.

As soon as he crossed the threshold into his bedroom, he closed the door and leaned against it. Well. How the hell was he supposed to react to that? How did he want to react to it? More than likely, Christian would want him to ignore the interaction, but something about the way Chris was looking at him kept him from doing just that. The heat in Christian’s eyes made him shiver, and part of him wanted to go back out there again just to see what Christian would do.

Then again, maybe he was reading too much into the situation. For all he knew, Christian wasn’t even into him, and he was seeing things that weren’t there. Maybe he’d just been surprised to see Jonah so early in the morning. And maybe he’d wake up tomorrow and the sky would be green.

By the time he walked back into the kitchen, Christian had started on breakfast. An empty can of biscuits meant he’d already stuck them in the oven, and the scent of bacon was emanating from the microwave. Christian stood in front of the stove, prodding eggs in a pan with unnecessary vigor. They would be rubbery if he didn’t stop overhandling them.

“You might not want to push them around so much,” Jonah suggested. “They’ll turn out better if you just leave them be.”

“I know how to make eggs,” Christian said, his voice tight.

Rather than press, Jonah just nodded. “Okay. Go ahead, then.”

He walked over to the fridge and grabbed the butter and jelly, then started setting the table. It might be awkward as hell being in the same room as Christian, but dammit, he wasn’t going to lose the one bit of company he had just because Chris had seen him shirtless.

“So what are your plans for the day?” he asked, laying a fork and knife down beside his plate.

“I’ve got work to do.” The answer came almost before the last word had left Jonah’s lips. “One of us is on a working vacation, remember? If I don’t get these two articles done by the end of the week, there’s a pretty good chance I won’t get any more assignments from this magazine, and I really like them, so I need to get it done.”

Work. That was a perfectly harmless topic to see them through breakfast. “What are the articles about?”

The microwave beeped, and Jonah walked over to carefully pull out the bacon tray. It was filled with more bacon than the two of them could possibly eat, but he wasn’t complaining. This week, he wasn’t going to think about his diet. As long as he kept up his running routine, he would be fine.

“For one of them, I’m looking at a number of small-town bands and how they’re keeping the bluegrass tradition alive, and the other is all about the bourbon trail.”

Both of those sounded cool, although Jonah was more interested in the piece on small-town bands. It had been way too long since he’d heard anything other than the Top 40 station that recycled the same songs every three hours.

“Sounds like you’re going to have quite the week,” he said, setting the bacon on the counter. “Remember when we were going to be in a band? You, me, and Mason?”

The tension in Chris’s face broke, and he grinned. “Who could forget? You were going to play the guitar, Mason the drums, and I was going to be the lead singer.”

“What was our name again?” It was something Mason had chosen, but he couldn’t quite recall.

“Goodbye Columbus. Mase and I found it in one of our old social studies textbooks. It was one of the subheadings.”

That was the one. “I still say it’s the perfect name for a band. It sounds super indie. Who knows. If we’d actually done it, you could have written a feature about us.”

“I wouldn’t need to write a feature about us, because I would be performing with you.”

He hip-checked Christian as he walked back over to the stove. “Yeah, but we could have used the free publicity. Plus, you’d be getting paid to write about us.”

“Fair point. I’ll call up Mason, you get in touch with your agent, and we’ll see what we can do.”

Jonah laughed. “Sorry, but I think it’s a little late to live that dream.”

“Absolutely not. If Disney stars can go on to have successful music careers, I see no reason you can’t. After all, Alpha Flight is a Marvel group and Marvel is owned by Disney, so it works!”

The conversation was a pointless one, but it had served its purpose—it had broken the ice between Jonah and Christian after the rough start to the morning, and that was all Jonah wanted.

As soon as the eggs were done, Christian carried the pan over and divided them evenly. Jonah took a bite and paused mid-chew. They were rubbery, just like he said they’d be. He didn’t point it out, though. The last thing he needed was to undo the progress he’d just made.

“What are you going to do with your time off, then?” Christian asked, once he’d sat down.

Jonah shrugged. “I thought I might go fishing later. It’s been years since I’ve had the chance, and I always loved it when I was younger.”

He was fairly sure Uncle Richard still had a few rods and reels he could use, but if not, he could always drive into town.

“Yeah? You think you’re gonna catch our dinner?”

“Maybe. I don’t even know if I’m good at it, but I’ll give it a try.”

“Forgive me for not having that much confidence in you,” Christian said, slathering a biscuit with butter and molasses. “Just to be on the safe side, how would you feel about a barbecue tonight? We could hit up Kroger for a grocery run. It’s a new one. One of the Super Krogers.”

“What does it say about me that that sounds like a lot of fun?”

“It says you’re an overworked Hollywood actor who needs to be reminded of where he came from. But also, like, who doesn’t love Super Krogers? They have everything!”

“True. I guess that settles it. I’ll go fishing, you get some work done, and then tonight we can go get stuff for dinner.”

And if both of them kept pretending like that morning hadn’t happened, they might just be able to get through the week without any awkwardness along the way.