Not calling it out, just a flicker of amusement crossing his face before he looked away, giving Chase the dignity of pretending nothing happened.
Chase felt heat creep up his neck.
“New territory,” he muttered.
Logan snorted softly. “You’re telling me.”
They both wrapped towels around their waists almost at the same time, an unconscious synchronization neither acknowledged.
The showers hissed steadily nearby.
Logan jerked his head toward them. “C’mon.”
Steam filled the shower area, warm and thick, water echoing off tile walls.
They took adjacent stations, not intentionally close, but not far either.
Chase turned the water hotter than necessary, letting it run over his shoulders as he tried to focus on literally anything else.
It didn’t help.
Peripheral awareness became the problem.
Movement beside him.
Water tracing muscle.
The quiet sound of Logan exhaling when the heat hit his back.
Chase kept his eyes forward.
Mostly.
Once, just once, he glanced sideways while rinsing shampoo from his hair.
Logan was already looking.
Not staring.
Just… curious.
They both looked away immediately, almost in sync.
A breath of awkward laughter escaped Logan.
“Well,” he said, voice echoing slightly over the water, “at least we know we’re not imagining the tension.”
Chase wiped water from his face. “Yeah.”
A beat passed.
“But it’s not weird,” Logan added after a moment. “At least… it doesn’t feel weird to me.”
Chase considered that.
“No,” he said quietly. “It doesn’t.”
The honesty settled something between them.
