Right?
“It’ll be all right, Ten,” Ross said gently, brushing their lips together again. “All the things you’re thinking, making you frown like that—they’re gonna be okay.”
Tenner kissed him one more time and pulled away. “Wednesday and Thursday sound good,” he said, carefully not addressing anything else. “Are you up for one more game, or are you ready to crash?”
“One more game,” Ross said. “C’mere, sit next to me. We can pretend we’re straight.”
But when Tenner sat down, Ross scooted over until their thighs were touching, and whenever it was Tenner’s turn to play, Ross rested his hand on Tenner’s knee. And before Ross took his turn at the controls, he snuck his head in for a quick kiss.
Fun—yes. And a little juvenile, considering what they’d done in that alcove. But it was, in its way, wholesome. Innocent. It was two kids who’d never had sex before enjoying all the excitement of finding other things to do.
And every time Ross touched him, that insistent throb of arousal under his skin grew in power and proportion until it became a massive, waiting monster in his groin and his chest.
Wednesday and Thursday, he thought.
It was like waiting for prom, except he was going with a boy this time.
The Moons in Our Orbit
THE BRIGHTLY blocked comforter and matching area rug over the hardwood floor certainly made Ross feel welcome in the guest room.
“The shower is fully stocked,” Tenner said, lingering in the doorway. “We get up around six thirty. I mean, you don’t have to be out by then, but—”
“I’ll be gone by then,” Ross said, taking a step forward so they were standing close. “I usually do jeans and a dress shirt for work, so I need to change. Nice room.”
“Thanks. I, uh, had my parents in mind when I decorated.” He shrugged. “They stay at Nina’s when they visit Piper.”
Ross’s heart wasn’t getting less bruised. “Because…?”
“Because I came out to everybody. I was destroying my family. Did you expect my parents to throw me a party?”
“Mine did,” Ross argued, stung. “I mean, when I came out as bi. I mean, it was my sixteenth birthday party, but my mom’s a total smartass. She made my cake rainbow and had ‘Just tell us who’s coming home for dinner,’ put on the top.”
Tenner was regarding him in shock, his mouth opening and closing with no sound coming out, so Ross kept going.
“It was the first time Desi had Pat over for dinner. I remember her looking at him with this sort of challenge, and Patrick sort of rolled his eyes. He said, ‘If he brings home a guy, make sure he can play baseball. That is all I ask.’”
Tenner narrowed his eyes. “You lie.”
“You know the guy. Tell me if I’m lying!”
Tenner laughed suddenly. “He was begging. He wanted me to play for the Sunspots so bad. I guess if I didn’t play for them—”
“Then the team couldn’t play, and if the team didn’t play, there wouldn’t be enough people for the league, blah blah blah. He was lying.”
“He was not!”
“He was exaggerating. Trust me. I get that you’ve known him for what? Six years?”
“Seven,” Tenner told him.
“Yeah. You have no idea of the depths that man will sink to play or see a baseball game. It’s insane.” Ross sobered. “Anyway. I got a cake. You got a raw deal. I’m sorry.”
Tenner’s shrug almost undid him. “I got Piper. I win.”
He made to leave, but Ross stopped him with fingers along his jaw. “A good night kiss,” he breathed, not asking.
Tenner opened his mouth, not arguing, and Ross tasted him again. Ah! This wasn’t getting any worse. He tasted of beer, of course, but the last few hours had made the taste more Tenner than beer.
And Tenner—fierce competitor, responsible father, upright citizen—had an amazingly wild undertone.
Ross pulled back, breathing hard, and leaned his forehead against Tenner’s. “You and me, we’re going to have a good time together,” he promised rashly. There were so many reasons this couldn’t work; he wasn’t so cocky he couldn’t see them.
He needed more of that taste inside him, more of that complexity, the bitter and the sweet. He wasn’t ready for it to end now. He just wasn’t.
Tenner made to talk, his expression unhappy, and Ross could hear the question underneath. For how long? For three days? For two months? Every time Ross came to town?
But Ross wasn’t ready to answer that one yet. He captured Tenner’s lips again and plunged his tongue in, kissing until Tenner pulled back, his best Dad look on his face.
“Sleep well,” he muttered, taking a step back and adjusting himself. “I know I won’t.”
Ross chuckled, but it was a strained sound, needy, and not cocky at all. “Me neither, dammit. Night.”
But Tenner gave him a salute from behind his head and trudged up the stairs, clicking the switch at the top so the house fell into darkness.
Ross sighed and undressed to his briefs, then set his phone for six so he could get up.
BY THE time he’d gotten to his sister’s place and showered for work, everybody was up and running around in circles doing the school routine. Pat wasn’t really a morning crazy person—he huddled in the chaos with his tablet and his coffee and gave terse instructions from time to time.
“Your backpack’s in the bathroom. No, I don’t know why, but that’s where I tripped over it. No, your brother’s not trying to kill you. Coffee, Allison. Cof. Fee. What’s the rule?”
His twelve-year-old tossed her glossy copper curls and flounced off to find the backpack. “No talking to Dad before his coffee. I get it!”
“Coffee…,” Pat murmured, falling into himself.
Ross poured himself a cup and parked next to his second-favorite relative and sipped.
Loudly.
Pat looked over his tablet to see who dared intrude on his time, and Ross gave him a toothy grin.
“The fuck do you want?”
Ross held his hand to his heart. “Wounded. Wounded am I, that you, my favorite brother-in-law, would suspect that I, the man who sleeps under his roof, eats the bread from his table, wants anything more than simple scraps of his affection.”
Pat managed to maintain his scowl for a whole three seconds before he started to chuckle, sipping at his coffee with relish. “Do you need lunch money or a backpack?”
“I do not,” Ross assured him.
“I might not kill you. What do you need?”
“Info.”
“I can give you a breakdown of CPU speeds using current video technology or baseball scores. Choose wisely.”
Ross chuckled and took another sip of his coffee. “Tenner.”
Pat set down his coffee. “Gibson? From baseball? The guy you were trying so hard to piss off?”
“That’s the one.” Ross didn’t know what he put in his voice, but Pat’s eyes got big, and he bit his lip, uncharacteristically uncertain.
“You, uh… got a crush?”