He shrugged, trying to find the right words. “Is it a hero thing? Like you were hurt, so you want to help hurt people?”
Gage looked offended. “No. I mean, yes I’ve been hurt, but no. I thought…shit.”
“What?” Fallon pressed when Gage went quiet.
He bit his lip, then shook his head. “I thought it was obvious that I liked you. I kind of thought we were going to stay friends. And I get now why you didn’t call, but…I’m not doing this to be some kind of savior. You’re alone right now, and you might be alone for even longer. I don’t want that for you.”
“Oh.” He took a breath. “I hurt your feelings.”
“Yes,” Gage answered. “But I understand.”
Fallon wasn’t sure if he believed him, but it was nice that Gage accepted his words for what they were. He didn’t mean it in a cruel way. He just wanted to understand. In reality, he was no one to Gage. He was his best friend’s brother-in-law—or nearly. He was a guy that he’d fucked once on his couch, who then ghosted him for three months.
He wasn’t sure he deserved to be more than that to Gage.
But he wanted to be.
“Thank you,” Fallon told him.
Gage didn’t ask him what for. He just nodded and shifted a little closer. “Do you want to stay here tonight? I know the first night in a new place can be a little…much.”
Fallon let his eyes close and relief wash over him. “Could you stay with me instead? I have a really nice bed, and I like my space. I just don’t know if I want to be alone.”
“Yeah,” Gage said quietly. “Whatever you need.”
He wasn’t going to take that literally. At least, not as a long-term promise.
But he would take it for now.
CHAPTER FIVE
GAGE
He wokethe way he always did lately: panicked, cold sweats, heart beating so hard he could feel it in his mouth. A wave of nausea crashed over him, and he attempted to breathe through it as he rolled over and…oh fuck. He wasn’t alone.
He was in bed with…
With…?
Fallon.
Reality hit him like a freight train as the events of the night before began to surface in his memory. The apartment next door. The new neighbor. Him attempting to play the hero and then nearly getting bludgeoned to death by a dildo.
He pressed his finger to the side of his eye and winced at the pain. When he blinked, he felt his eyelids struggle to part, which meant yeah. He had a black eye, and it was nicely swollen. The only upside was that his colleagues would absolutely believe he ate shit trying to rescue a kitten because he’d done that twice now.
Taking a breath, he rolled further onto his side and forced his good eye open and saw Fallon flat on his back, one arm flung over his head, mouth parted gently. His breath was slow andeven, and he looked more relaxed than Gage had ever seen him before.
He fought off the urge to reach over and touch him because God, he really liked touching him. But it felt all wrong now. Now that he knew what was going on with him. Now that he knew what Fallon was facing.
He had no idea what to do about it.
He hung out with plenty of trans guys in gaming. Hell, there was a trans masc firefighter who was often on shift with him, and Gage loved them. But he’d never asked about pregnancy. Or dysphoria. Or any of the other shit that Fallon was probably facing.
He was definitely not the guy to swoop in and help. At least, not apart from being a friend and apparently—as last night proved—crawling into Fallon’s bed nest and cuddling all night. Which had been both for Fallon and for himself because while he was a selfish bastard and sex was clearly off the table, he would take any excuse to touch him.
Fuck, he needed to clear his head.
Rolling out of bed, he shuffled around Fallon’s room, which was still full of boxes, and found where he’d dropped his sweats. He did his best to dress quietly, but it wasn’t good enough because as he tugged his sweater over his head, his gaze settled on a pair of eyes watching him.
