A Royal Secret

by Jerry Cole

  “There it is,” Sam muttered.

  Strong women were apparently Jamie’s undoing, for all that he could be a dick to them, and as much as Steve felt the stirrings of jealousy Jamie could find someone so quickly, he shoved that down quick enough. It wasn’t as though he didn’t have his own potential date. Today, in fact. Shit, in an hour and a half, and he wasn’t ready. What if he fucked it up? What if Bobby spent an hour with him and decided he wasn’t worth the effort?

  “Eat your damn breakfast, Steve,” Sam said, slapping his arm. “Stop talking yourself out of something you know you’ll hate yourself for not doing.”

  A fair point, Steve thought, and though he felt vaguely sick at the notion of having a date, he was starving, and wolfed down his breakfast.

  Steve checked about four times to make sure he had his wallet, keys and phone before leaving, and apparently it was enough to piss Jamie off, because he walked Steve down the hall and shoved him out of the door.

  “Don’t come back for at least four hours!” Jamie glared at him pointedly, and then slammed the door with a quick, “And wear a condom!”

  There was a couple in the hallway, because of course there would be, and they glared at Steve as he ducked into the elevator and silently willed the doors to close quickly. The perfect start, he thought viciously, making a mental note to punch Jamie in the face when he got home. All right, so he probably wouldn’t, but it made him feel better to think it.

  Traffic was terrible, as usual, but Steve used public transportation more than anything else. As he made his way toward the subway, he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. Now that he was out of the apartment, he was hoping it wasn’t Bobby texting to cancel. Thankfully, it was his mom, wishing him luck and what the fuck, he hadn’t said anything to her, so he knew it had to be Jamie or Sam—and when he found out which one, well. Jesus, the last thing he wanted was his mom staying informed about his dating life and having opinions on it.

  The subway was crowded, and Steve hovered awkwardly, trying to keep his balance as he texted his mother back. Most of his friends had parents just as tech savvy as Steve’s, but it was still weird sometimes to think about the fact his mother could text him and understood how to do it.

  As he approached the university, Steve felt the nerves come upon him once again, knowing the closer he got to the mural, the closer he came to being able to spend more time with Bobby than just a few minutes.

  “Steve!”

  As he turned the corner, toward the mural, Steve looked back over his shoulder to see Bobby running down the path toward him. He looked good. Apparently dressing up meant jeans and a shirt, but also a leather jacket that had Steve’s breath catching in his throat. He swallowed thickly. “Bobby.”

  “I thought I was gonna be late,” Bobby managed to get out, waving off Steve’s concern as he tried to catch his breath.

  “Did you run all the way here?” Steve asked, amused, his nerves fading in the face of Bobby’s embarrassment.

  “No,” Bobby said, unconvincingly. When he straightened, Steve could see that sweat had plastered some of Bobby’s hair to his forehead and it was hopelessly endearing. When he saw the look on Steve’s face, Bobby relaxed a fraction, but still managed to look apprehensive. “What?”

  “Nothing,” Steve said, and he could hear the softness in his own voice. Get a rein on that, Mitchell, or you’ll scare him off. “Just that your hair…”

  Steve reached out, watching the way Bobby froze, but he mussed up the front of Bobby’s hair, stopping it from flattening down against his forehead. Bobby watched him silently, and for a beat Steve wondered if he had overstepped. That was weird, right?

  “Thanks,” Bobby said, and the look on his face was interesting. Steve almost didn’t want to breathe, afraid to break the moment, but then Bobby relaxed a fraction, and the look on his face had, and Steve was ashamed to admit it to himself, Steve’s blood rushing to his dick. Dammit. He managed to convince Jamie and Sam he was better than that, but apparently, he wasn’t. Fuck. “Do I look good enough now?”

  “You looked amazing anyway,” Steve said quickly, avoiding looking Bobby in the eye. “Hot, I mean. Good.”

  Bobby laughed gently, but it wasn’t mocking. Apparently, he found Steve’s ridiculousness endearing. “Come on, Steve, let’s get this show on the road before you embarrass yourself to death.”

  “Is that a thing you can die of?” Steve asked genuinely, falling into step with Bobby as they made their way off campus. “I thought it was just a saying.”

  “Maybe your blood pressure gets so high you explode,” Bobby said.

  Steve paused, then they both started laughing. “Kinda gross, but possible, I think. I’ll have to ask a medical student.”

  “Medical students are too busy to answer our stupid questions, Steve.” At Steve’s look, Bobby shrugged. “I know a medical student. He constantly threatens to stab me for interrupting his studying, but that might be just my personality.”

  “Could be,” Steve said, with a hint of teasing in his tone. He was sure Bobby’s personality was just endearing instead of annoying, but he knew it would be different in person than it was over the phone. Perhaps.

  Bobby stood close to Steve, leaning against him more than he needed to, but Steve didn’t mind. He liked knowing that anyone staring at them would wonder are they together. If that wasn’t weird. “Not nice, Steve. Making me reconsider dating you.”

  Pouting, Steve pretending to be upset about it, cheering inwardly when Bobby nudged him, leaning against him properly and staring up at him.

  “I’m not,” Bobby promised. “As if I would let all this pass me up,” he continued, waving a hand up and down Steve’s body.

  “Knew it,” Steve joked. “You love me only for my body.”

  Bobby rolled his eyes. “Now you’re just fishing for compliments. I am not going to fall for it, Steve. Now get your ass in gear, we got tickets to this show and I’m not missing it because you want me to stoke that very fine ego.”

  Steve grinned as he started toward the gallery. He had been surprised when Bobby offered to take him to a local showcase of paintings, something he was sure Bobby wasn’t actually into, and was only doing because Steve loved art. When he’d said as much, Bobby brushed him off, telling him they could do what Bobby wanted next time, besides, he needed Steve to tell him what art was good these days.

  “Thanks for coming with me to this. Jamie and Sam don’t care about it so I can’t convince them.”

  “It’s fine,” Bobby said easily. “Whatever makes you happy, Steve.”

  “What about what makes you happy?” Steve pressed. “Not for now, obviously, but for next time. So I know.”

  Bobby hummed, thinking about it. He looked a little awkward with his hands, which Steve could understand, like he wanted to put them in his pockets but wasn’t sure if that was an acceptable date thing to do. It was nice knowing Steve wasn’t the only one nervous about this. “I like making stuff,” Bobby said. “I’m an engineering major. I like creating things that help people.”

  Steve almost didn’t want to believe it. “That good, huh?”

  “Fuck off,” Bobby said good naturedly. “You know what I mean. You volunteered at the VA center last summer.”

  “They needed people,” Steve protested, but he couldn’t deny it had been a good thing to do. His dad had been a veteran, and he knew plenty of people in the service.

  Bobby gave him the courtesy of not calling him on it. instead, he paused just before the steps to the gallery, tugging Steve over to one of the pillars supporting the façade. “I’ve known you a couple of hours total, if you count texts, and I’m pretty sure you’re as good as I think you are.”

  “We had to stop for you to say that?” Steve meant it to be teasing, but he could hear the catch in his voice.

  “Apparently,” Bobby said. He touched a hand to Steve’s chest. “I only date good people, Steve. It’s a thing.”

  Steve had no idea whether that w
as true, but it was nice enough to hear that he tugged on Bobby’s arm, toward the entrance to the gallery. “I appreciate that, Bobby, but let’s not label each other too quickly, eh? I could be a demon for all you know.”

  Bobby pretended to analyze him, taking a step away to give him the once over. “Between the sheets, maybe.”

  “Fuck,” Steve said, shocked into laughing and shoving Bobby away. “Shut up, asshole. You wish you knew what I was like between the sheets.”

  A couple walking up the steps beside them muttered something and hurried on. Steve fought the urge to apologize—he was outside, dammit, it was allowed! —and shoved at Bobby again when he kept laughing.

  “This is your fault.”

  “I’ll take the punishment,” Bobby said with cheek, and fell back into step with Steve. “I do actually, you know,” he said, after the silence between them grew a touch awkward.

  Steve didn’t have to ask what, and again, images of he and Bobby in bed, doing the very thing Steve had been trying to stop himself from doing, was almost too much. “Yeah, can’t say I haven’t thought about it.”

  “Good,” Bobby was speaking almost to himself, but Steve could see the little grin on his face, how slowly he relaxed into an easy stride as they pushed through the doors of the gallery.

  “So,” Steve prompted, while they waited in line. “It’s something you’ll want then, eventually?”

  “Well,” Bobby said, pushing up on his toes a little so he could whisper close to Steve’s ear. “I don’t put out on the first date usually, but I could be persuaded.”

  The heat rose in Steve’s face, but he could see a similar tinge to Bobby’s face. “Promises, promises,” he managed eventually.

  “Oh, it’s a promise,” Bobby said, heated, and Steve swallowed. Yeah, okay, he believed him. Part of him wanted to drag Bobby out of the gallery, but the saner part of him refused to give in. Sleeping together was fine, would be great even, but they both deserved the time to get to know each other first. Besides, Bobby had already bought the tickets, and Steve didn’t want him to waste the money, even if he couldn’t stop thinking about Bobby beneath him on the bed. Or even Bobby above him on the bed. Either way was good.

  Bobby leaned against the counter as he handed over the tickets, and Steve got a good view of the lines of his body beneath his clothes, the smile on his face, the way his eyes would crinkle at the corners when he smiled. Yeah, definitely good either way.

  “Come on,” Bobby said, a laugh in his voice. “We have a gallery to get through.”

  “This is your fault,” Steve repeated, but he gladly took the hand Bobby offered and let himself be pulled into the gallery.

  Chapter Four

  When Steve got back to the apartment, he could hear the TV blaring, and Sam and Jamie arguing over something. Closing the door and leaning against it, Steve said, “He didn’t want to sleep with me.”

  The TV immediately shut off, and both Jamie and Sam peered around the back of the couch, staring at him. “What?”

  “Bobby didn’t want to sleep with me,” Steve repeated. He was still giddy about the trip to the gallery, holding hands with Bobby, and Bobby’s attention mostly on him instead of on the art. “But he did.”

  “Okay,” Jamie said, drawing out the word as Steve kicked off his shoes and moved into the living room. Steve flopped forward onto the couch, almost missing and hitting his knee on the coffee table, but Sam caught him in time. Steve could see him rolling his eyes at Jamie over the top of Steve’s head.

  “That doesn’t make sense. Also, not wanting to sleep with you is bad?”

  “Yes,” Steve said, turning so that his voice wasn’t muffled by the couch. “No, not really, I thought for sure we were gonna do it after we’d been to the gallery, but he just kissed me like a gentleman and left!”

  Jamie was laughing at him, Steve could tell, and he thought about punching his friend in the leg, but he was feeling magnanimous enough to let it go, mostly because he was still hung up on the fact they hadn’t slept together.

  “You’re turning into Jamie,” Sam pointed out unhelpfully. “He usually expects a partner to put out on the first day.”

  “Fuck you,” Jamie said, but he was still laughing, the asshole. At Steve’s glare, he sighed, socking Steve in the shoulder. “Listen, Stevie, maybe he’s just being a gentleman? It’s not like we know much about the guy. Not everyone wants a partner just to get laid on the regular. Some people don’t even wanna do it at all.”

  Jamie looked incredulous about that, but Steve could appreciate people wanting to do whatever in a relationship. He could also appreciate not wanting to get laid regularly. Having Bobby come onto him too strongly would have immediately put him off, but he couldn’t stop thinking about that moment, the one where he and Bobby had been on the same page about wanting to sleep together.

  Sam poked him in the shoulder. “Wanting to sleep with him can’t be the only thing that came out of the date?”

  “Obviously not,” Steve said, and shoved away from the couch, moving over to the armchair and sinking into it. “It was great. Bobby’s—I dunno, man—he’s awesome. The gallery was great. I loved the art obviously, but I don’t think Bobby cared much about it. He spent most of the time staring at me.”

  “This is disgusting,” Jamie said, but he was grinning, so Steve didn’t take him too seriously. “Seriously, Stevie, I always knew you’d be the romantic type, but this is too much.”

  Steve flipped him off, and both Sam and Jamie started laughing, the kind of happy laugh that came from friends sharing a joke, so Steve didn’t take it personally. He didn’t know what kind of person he was in a relationship and besides, one date did not a future make, or whatever it was his mom used to tell him.

  Speaking of.

  “Which one of you assholes told my mom?”

  Jamie immediately looked guilty. “Stevie, she asked! What am I supposed to do, lie?”

  “Obviously,” Steve said, narrowing his eyes. “You know how she gets! Now she won’t let the subject drop.”

  “I’m not lying to Mama Mitchell.” Jamie shrugged easily and avoided looking at Sam’s incredulous expression. “Not about Steve!”

  “Fair,” Sam said.

  “Why the fuck am I even friends with you idiots,” Steve muttered, and tugged his phone from his pocket. Texting his mom would be the easiest way to handle things, but she would only call him back and demand a play by play of the date. Not that Steve wanted to share; he didn’t even want to tell her about Bobby, given how new and tentative it was. What if they decided they weren’t compatible, Steve did not want to have the when will you find someone to settle down with, Steve conversation with his mom for the nth time.

  “Sorry,” Jamie said, after the silence grew into discomfort. “I thought it would be fine, Steve. I can talk to her for ya.”

  “Don’t bother,” Steve said with a sigh, waving off Jamie’s concern. “I’ll do it. Maybe if I tell her it didn’t work out, I can get the shit over with, and date Bobby in private.”

  Sam let out a low whistle. “Wouldn’t wanna be you when she finds out the truth, buddy.”

  Steve tapped through to his mom’s message chat and gave Sam a wry grin. “Who’s to say it won’t be the truth?”

  “Please,” Jamie said, slipping further down on the couch and turning the TV back on. Thankfully, he turned down the volume from ear blowing to acceptable. “As if you and Bobby won’t be disgustingly sweet in no time.”

  “I give it three weeks,” Sam said.

  “Three days,” Jamie amended. “This is Steve we’re talking about.”

  Steve ignored their good-natured ribbing, which turned into a wager Steve was sure was only going to get worse—and probably encompass more people—but he was happy to let them go at it. They could bet all they liked on how he and Bobby would end up, but Steve wasn’t going to get his hopes up, nor was he going to be customarily self-deprecating about his chances.

  Lying probably
wasn’t the best policy when it came to his mom, so he just told her everything went okay but he didn’t want to say either way how it would turn out. Thankfully, his mom seemed to accept that and sent back keep me updated!

  It might have been too soon to send Bobby a text after having spent the day with him, but Steve didn’t care much. He had a good time, and he knew doing something you didn’t like could be a pain in the ass, so he appreciated what Bobby had done to make him happy.

  Thanks for today. I had fun. We should definitely do it again some time ?? I owe you a return date!

  When Steve risked a look, both Sam and Jamie were preoccupied with the movie on the television, bickering once again about what they were going to order for dinner. Personally, Steve thought they could do with making something instead of relying on takeout all the time, but he was exhausted and didn’t have the energy to argue with them. He’d go with whatever. How two friends could love each other so much and yet bicker over every interaction, Steve didn’t know, but he could rely on them both when it was needed, and he had discovered on more than one occasion they would both go a mile or more to protect each other. Friends, he mused, could be weird.

  Which was something on his mind the next morning when he hit up the coffee shop for an early morning rush. Lectures at nine were devil-made and Steve didn’t know how he managed to pick a major with three of them, but such was his life. In the coffee shop, he managed to find a table to dump his stuff while he waited for his coffee. It was crammed, as usual, but even though part of Steve hoped for it, Bobby didn’t show up. There had been a couple of texts that morning already, however, and Steve flicked through them, his mouth quirking up into a smile.

  Obviously I had a good time too.

  You owe me more than a return date, Mitchell ??

  But you can make it up to me next weekend?

  Steve didn’t hesitate to agree; the idea of another date with Bobby so soon was pretty awesome, and he was already trying to figure out what they could do that Bobby would actually enjoy.