Avery slumped, letting the disappointment wash over him and cool his burning cheeks. “Are you going to remember this conversation in the morning?”
“Sure I am.” Linc gave him a wobbly thumbs-up. “I’m drunk. I’m not wasted. I know the difference.”
The cab arrived. Linc got in withoutmuchassistance. Avery gave the driver his address, and only realized he’d assumed Linc was coming back to his place as they pulled away from the curb. “Should we drop you off first?”
“No. I like it at your place better.” Linc rested his head on the window. “You’re too good for that guy.”
Avery didn’t reply. He was suddenly too tired and didn’t want to deal with Linc’s love guru routine anymore tonight.
“I’ll get some blankets,” Avery said as he let them into the apartment.
“Why?”
He sighed. He never minded having Linc crash at his place, but he needed tonight to be over with. “I’ll see you in the morning.” He patted Linc’s shoulder.
His breath caught as Linc reached up and snagged his hand, tangling their fingers together. “We can share the bed.”
Still a little drunk, then.
“Fine. I’ll take the couch.”
“No.”
Avery closed his eyes. “Please can we go to sleep? We both had a crappy day, you’ve had too much to drink, and I don’t want to fight about this again.”
“Who’s fighting?” Linc grinned. “The bed is big enough for both of us. I know you only have one comforter.” He tugged on his hand. “Come on.”
And Avery, because he was tired, and because the sight of Oliver had reminded him how lonely he felt sometimes, and because Linc’s hand around his warmed him from his palm all the way up his arm to his heart, followed him.
They both stripped down to their underwear and T-shirts. Avery did his best to look anywhere but at the hairs that curled on Linc’s thighs, and how Linc filled out his shirt while Avery would only ever be bony and thin in his. They slid under the covers. The bed was more than big enough, because Avery rolled onto his side, facing away from Linc, and clung to the edge like a life raft.
“Good night,” he said softly, unsurprised when the only answer was Linc’s gentle snoring beside him. It vibrated over the mattress, keeping Avery awake for another hour.
* * *
Linc needed a moment to figure out where he was when he woke up. He was comfortable, warm without being hot, cozy under a blanket that wasn’t his.
A body was wrapped around him: their legs tangled together, arms around his stomach, and a heavy head tucked under his chin.
Morning wood pressed snuggly against his own, shifting as they breathed, rubbing softly together, making it tough to think.
He could unwind himself. Slide out, find his clothes, sneak away.
He could roll, trap Avery’s soft body under him, and hump him awake so they could both enjoy themselves.
He could run his fingers through Avery’s red hair and breathe him in while he was still asleep and unaware of the soft things in Linc’s heart, even while his body hardened.
A shrill buzzing shattered the quiet room, and Avery rolled away from him in an instant, fumbling for the phone and shutting off the alarm. Linc turned onto his side, making sure to bunch enough blankets around his thighs to keep from embarrassing himself as the mattress lurched and Avery pulled up to his feet. He didn’t say anything, and Linc kept his eyes half shut, listening to the soft sounds as Avery padded around the bedroom, appearing at the edge of Linc’s hooded vision. His skin was white against the dark fabric of his T-shirt and his briefs, his ass perfect and round as he stood in front of the mirror opposite the bed. He scratched his chest and scrubbed fingers through his hair, and Linc’s throat went dry with how much he wanted to touch him.
Avery left, which was a relief and a problem. Because Linc could palm himself, shuddering under the ache of his untended erection, and enjoy the sweet tension of being unable to do anything about it in someone else’s bed. But then the water came on in the bathroom—the roaring whoosh of the shower—and Linc groaned at the sound of the shower curtain swishing open and shut, the mental image of Avery stripping out of the last of his clothes and stepping naked under the hot spray.
Linc wanted to be in there with him. He wanted it so much it scared him. He could picture the water sluicing over Avery’s shoulders, rolling past his collarbones. The pink nipples, maybe the smattering of red hair on his chest. The soft spot under his belly button, where the hair darkened and narrowed while the water dripped farther down to—
His hips rocked into the mattress. He bit his lip and squeezed his balls, trying to stave off the desperate arousal swamping him. The flurry of thoughts and ideas, the things he could do, the sounds Avery would make if Linc was on his knees and Avery was in his mouth while the water—
“Oh, fuck.” He was going to come in his shorts like he hadn’t done since middle school. Then, when Avery came back from the shower, Linc would have to find a reason why he couldn’t get out of bed.
Just as he was about to embarrass himself completely, the night before returned to him instead. The tall blond man with the confused frown as Linc stomped across the room like a messy giant on a mission.
