“Me either.”
Sage drank more coffee, then put his mug down and turned on the couch so he faced Bryce. His knee bumped Bryce’s, but he didn’t move it. “We should probably talk rules,” Sage said, mouth twisting. “That sounds dumb when I say it out loud.”
“Ground rules aren’t dumb,” Bryce told him. “They keep us from making mistakes and fucking up our friendship.”
“Okay.” Sage held up a hand and ticked off fingers. “No pretending it didn’t happen after today. No labels yet. Slow. And if one of us wants to stop, we stop.”
“Good.” Bryce nodded. “And add don’t be idiots about other people.”
“If you want to go on a date with someone else, we say that out loud.” Sage frowned as he said it. The words didn’t feel right to him, and part of him hoped Bryce agreed.
Bryce’s jaw flexed and eased. “I don’t want to. Not right now.”
“Me either.” Sage clasped his hands and stared at them, his shoulders easing with Bryce’s words.
“Okay.” Sage glanced at Bryce, seeing the tension ease from his shoulders. “I had a stupid thought last night.”
“Yeah?”
“I thought that we should watch porn,” Bryce said, deadpan, then coughed like the words were sand. “Educational purposes.”
Sage snorted before he could stop himself. “Porn?”
“It was a joke,” Bryce said. “Mostly. I think.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what you like. I don’t even know what I like yet. Watching…whatever…seemed like a way to not make an idiot of myself.”
Sage put his mug down after taking a sip of coffee. “We don’t need videos to figure that out.”
Bryce’s eyes lifted. “No?”
“No,” Sage said. “We ask. We try one thing at a time. We don’t rush. We stop if it gets or feels weird. We laugh when we’re clumsy. We’re learning together.”
Bryce smiled slightly. “You make it sound simple.”
“It isn’t,” Sage said. “But we can keep it simple.”
“Okay.” Bryce nodded. “So.” Bryce coughed. “Valentine’s dinner?”
“Dinner,” Sage said.
“Where?”
“Small place on Fourth,” Sage murmured, picturing the place in his mind. “The Italian one. The lights are low enough you can pretend you’re not being watched.”
Bryce smiled as he nodded. “Perfect.”
They finished their coffee. The quiet between them felt right again. Bryce put his empty mug on the table and reached over, palm up, like he wasn’t sure if he could ask with words. Sage put his hand in it, and Bryce’s fingers curled around his without squeezing.
They sat like that for a while. When Sage shifted, Bryce let go and then leaned in, a small tilt to his lips that asked a question. “Yeah.” Sage nodded, and Bryce kissed him.
Bryce didn’t rush the kiss. Just the slow slide of his mouth over Sage’s. Sage lifted a hand to Bryce’s jaw and kept it there, feeling the stubble under his palm. Different from a woman but not so different that Sage pushed Bryce away. Bryce’s hand landed on Sage’s thigh, above the knee, fingers digging in, making Sage gasp as his cock hardened.
They broke for air and stayed close. Bryce’s forehead touched Sage’s. “Still okay?”
“Still okay,” Sage said.
Bryce sat back an inch, eyes clearer. “I’m going to be weird today.”
“I already accounted for that.” Sage chuckled softly.
