by E. Davies
Caspian smiled and carefully set down his weight. “Hey again.”
He’d been diligently studying the YouTube tutorials Bi Unicorn had sent him over the last few days to memorize the form. He didn’t want Matt thinking of him like some clueless newbie, after all.
Kelly had shown him the press-up machines, but she’d told him that free weights got better results, so here he was.
It was already painfully obvious that he was skinny and a little underfed. There weren’t too many beefcakes around the gym, and thank God he didn’t have to change around them, but even so… sleeveless shirts could only hide so much.
“Getting on okay here?” Matt asked, that smile never wavering. He kept glancing around, as if he was nervous to talk to Cas. He hadn’t been that way before, which was an interesting change.
“Yeah, yeah.” Cas rubbed his hands. The weights put a surprising strain on his fingers after a few reps. “Ow.”
Matt’s eyes widened as he took one of Cas’s hands. The gesture made Cas catch his breath, looking up into Matt’s eyes. Definitely not something a straight guy would do.
Suddenly, they felt so much closer together than they had been a moment ago. His body tingled, and he found himself wishing Matt had an excuse to run his hand up the inside of his wrist.
“Those are some calluses,” Matt said instead, touching one gently and letting go of his hand.
“I make art. Wood art. Big stuff. For yards. And little stuff.” Fuck, Caspian seemed to have lost the ability to speak in sentences of more than three words. He couldn’t focus over how much he wanted Matt to touch him again.
“You didn’t look like the rough-and-tumble type. My bad for assuming,” Matt said, smiling at him.
Enough dilly-dallying. It was time to see if Matt was actually interested, or if he was just flirting around. Cas went for it. “I like a tumble,” he answered, keeping his voice low.
Matt opened his mouth for a second with surprise. His cheeks were suddenly stained a pale rose color as Cas met his eyes and didn’t look away. “Oh. I—I, uh. Um. I actually wanted to talk to you.”
“Obviously, since you came over here,” Cas answered with a grin, not planning on letting him get away easily.
Matt snorted and flicked his arm playfully. “I noticed that, uh… you seemed kind of… I mean, I like… would you go to coffee with me?”
He said the last part in such a rush that it took Cas a few moments to unpick the syllables into real words. “Would I—yes. Coffee. Yeah. I mean…”
What about Unicorn? He felt a genuine twist in his gut when he thought of the guy. He was sad that Unicorn hadn’t taken up on his efforts to flirt, day in and day out. But it was his own damn fault for falling for the first guy to look at him again.
He couldn’t wait around forever for Unicorn to be ready to come out at work, or whatever the hell was holding him back.
“Just coffee?”
“Just coffee.” Matt looked anxious. “I mean, a date in which we drink coffee. Is that okay? Do you like dates? Do you like men… on dates? Do you have a boyfriend? Oh, God. I bet you do.”
Wow. Caspian never would have expected this shy, awkward, geeky side to the hunk standing in front of him. “I do like dates,” he told him with a grin. “With men. And no, I’m not dating anyone. Nobody’s had the balls to really ask me out in… well. A while.”
Oh, man. That made him sound like a real catch.
“I know what that’s like,” Matt agreed with an easygoing grin, apparently not judging him. “It’s a catch-22. Do you ask or wait for him to ask, right?”
“Yeah,” Cas said with a laugh, suddenly fidgety and awkward around Matt. He felt self-conscious now that he knew Matt was interested for real.
If Unicorn didn’t want to take any of his hints, he was going to give Matt a chance. Worst case scenario, he’d have a new gym buddy.
It had been way too long since his last real date with anyone.
“Cool!” Matt beamed. “When are you free?”
“Today?” Cas immediately blushed. Okay, that might sound a little bit overeager. “I mean, I can wait…”
Matt’s laugh wasn’t unkind. “Nothing wrong with today. I’m free for, say, three?”
Cas seized on the time eagerly. “Three. Yeah. That’d be great.” That gave him an hour or two to get home, shower, and change.
And maybe text Unicorn to tell him the news. If it made him shape up and ask him out at last, so much the better.
“Great! How about at Grind?”
Not a lot of places were open on Sunday afternoons, and the bar was out. Doris, the owner, would be more than happy to get more gossip, Cas was sure. This was going to get back to the other guys in thirty seconds.
“Yeah, Grind works! See you at three.” Cas was ready to escape so he could try to figure out what had just happened.
All of a sudden, a hot guy wanted to get to know him? Had he died and gone to heaven?
He could feel the same high hopes kicking in as always. Knowing the pattern didn’t stop him from falling into it, though.
Maybe Matt was different, his hopes told him. Maybe they would hit it off, and be all kinds of perfect for each other, and he could bring his new boyfriend to the next brunch.
Okay, so there was a tiny competitive part of him that wanted to show off to the other guys. He wasn’t gonna be the last single gay guy in town.
For the whole drive home, all ten minutes of it, Cas could barely sit still in his seat. He mentally planned his outfit: should he go with shorts? August was too hot for pants, but shorts were casual.
Actually, casual was good. Less formal. It was only coffee, after all. Too formal just scared guys off. Okay, shorts it was.
By the time he was home, he had a plan for his outfit, but he was no closer to deciding whether his heart lay with a man who had boldly asked him out, or with a man who had been a great friend but had stubbornly refused to take their relationship somewhere else, despite all the flirtation.
Caspian picked up his phone and stared for a moment before sending a text.
swishy like wine: Guess who has a hot date today? ;) I must be a twunk now!
Before he even put down the phone, he had an answer.
bi unicorn: No way! I’m so happy for you! :) Me too, going to Grind.
Cas stared at the phone. For a moment, he wondered… but no. That would be too much of a coincidence. Life didn’t work that way.
There were only a couple first-date spots in town. It was no surprise they’d picked the same spot.
bi unicorn: I finally sucked it up and asked the work cutie out. I must be smooth at last ;)
Even Caspian was surprised at the strength of that pang of jealousy. He had no right to be jealous, no claim over his new friend, but still… he resented Unicorn’s coworker already. He wanted Unicorn to be happy, and he had his own date to look forward to.
Aware that he hadn’t yet answered, he hurried to type out something.
swishy like wine: Fabulous :) Guess what? We’re going to Grind too. LOL
It sounded half-hearted even to him, but he couldn’t very well admit that he wished Unicorn had said something to him first. But he had been talking about the cutie at work for a while, so… good for him.
Good for him was his mantra. He was going to have a fantastic first date with Matt and either hit it off with him or make Unicorn jealous enough to take him up on the blind date.
One way or the other, everyone would win.
bi unicorn: No way! Today?
swishy like wine: Yeah! Late afternoon?
bi unicorn: Maybe we’ll see each other there! And we can see if each other’s dates are good enough for us.
Oh, yeah. Cas planned to keep an eye out. The only question was: how the hell was he going to handle a whole date trying to give Matt a fair chance—and he deserved that, after having been nice and hot as hell—while not being distracted by seeing Unicorn in real life?
God, if only he’d
asked him out earlier…
bi unicorn: And if our dates don’t work out, how about that blind date after all?
Cas tossed his phone on the couch, covered his mouth with his hands, and squeaked into them before he managed to compose himself again.
Oh, God. Unicorn did like him. Way to send mixed signals!
swishy like wine: Oh, *now* you want a date with me!
bi unicorn: I wanted to prove to myself I can talk to guys IRL. And this one is so cute AND seems sweet. I can tell there’s chemistry already. I hope your mysterious man treats you right!
Instantly, he felt bad for being jealous. They’d talked about Unicorn’s fears before—how he didn’t feel like he was experienced enough with guys to date them, even though he wanted to try. His friend was going to be happy, and damn it, Cas was going to be glad for him.
swishy like wine: Thank you! My date is hoooot so don’t cry for me Argentina! If it’s a Grindr-style thing, no complaints. LOL.
bi unicorn: But you deserve to be wined and dined, too.
He blushed and pressed his phone into his forehead. This was what would make Unicorn such a good boyfriend: the ability to say validating things, even if he had to practice saying them out loud.
swishy like wine: Thank you. And I’m proud of you for taking that first step! You deserve a great date too. So… BFFs?
bi unicorn: Totes! ;) We’ll have slumber parties and giggle about our boys. How will I know which one you are, though? I don’t want to hold pinkies with the wrong dude.
swishy like wine: If you do, I’ll signal you by laughing hysterically.
bi unicorn: No pressure then! Thanks ;) TTYS. Or see you IRL soon! Break a leg!
swishy like wine: You too!
Caspian pocketed his phone and went to grab the jeans that made his ass look great.
13
Matt
What the hell was Matt’s life, anyway?
This was the most terrifying first date he had ever been on, for so many reasons. He couldn’t have a nice, gentle experience to ease him in, could he? No, he had to go on his first ever real date with a man—not just a thinly-veiled prelude to sex.
And he wasn’t going to be alone to make an idiot of himself, either. No, the very guy who had given him enough confidence to try it, even if he seemed like he didn’t want to meet in real life, had turned out to be going to the same place at the same time with his own date.
Worst of all, he’d slipped and kind of pre-asked Swishy out if their dates didn’t go well. And Swishy had actually seemed interested.
Until he’d suggested being BFFs, anyway. That suggested that he was trying not to hit on him, which fit Matt’s overall impression. Which was why Matt had decided to try talking to Caspian, rather than set his heart on someone unattainable—who also happened to be conveniently easy to talk to. Through text, anyway. Who knew about real life?
I’m proud of myself for managing to ask him out without sounding like a total weirdo. At least he had that. If only he weren’t so worried he’d make an idiot of himself on the actual date.
Matt banged his head on the steering wheel as he put the car into park and headed into his apartment. He’d left as late as possible at work so he’d have just enough time to change and get to Grind. The last thing he needed was to be sitting around his living room second-guessing his life decisions.
He was going to go on this date, get to know Caspian, and see what happened.
By the time he got to the town coffee shop, Grind, he was so wound up with anticipation that he twitched at even the bell on the door.
“Oh, even the healthy among us need their coffee fix, huh?” Doris had a sharp tongue but a soft heart—you only had to see her talk to people who were alone at the table, or sneak a free coffee to a student who looked down.
She would never let anyone call her out on her soft heart, though, so Matt always bantered back. “You know caffeine is addictive, right?”
“Damn right. And good thing. A good cup makes the world go around!”
He grinned as he headed to the counter. “And a bad cup?”
“Waste of a good bean. Burnt coffee should be a sin. What can I get you?” she asked, moving for the coffee machine.
“I’ll wait a minute for someone to get here, actually.”
Matt’s nervous smile as he moved to a table for two—as far from Doris and the counter as possible, but everything was in earshot—must have given him away.
“Oh! Hot date? Who’s the lucky duck?”
Matt’s blush made his fingers prickle as he folded his arms. “You’ll see.”
“Straighten up,” she scolded as soon as he sat down. “And fix your collar. There you go. Make a good first impression. No crossing your arms, either.”
“Thanks,” Matt laughed. He folded his hands in his lap instead, fidgeting with his fingers.
He’d gotten there a couple minutes early to get a table and check out the place. Only a few other people sat in the shop, and none of them looked like they were waiting for someone. So much for his hopes of spotting Swishy with his hot date.
“Say,” he said slowly. “Did a couple of guys come in on a first date not long ago?”
She sucked her teeth for a moment, looking around, and then shook her head. “Nope. Why?”
“Nothing.”
Doris eyed him, but just then, the door rattled. Matt turned in his chair to see the entrance.
“Oh. Hi.” Caspian looked breathless, and even cuter in a short-sleeved collared shirt and jeans than he did in gym clothes.
“Denim, in August!” Doris scoffed under her breath. “If Cas faints in those, I won’t be surprised. Boys and their fashion.”
Matt and Caspian shared a laugh as Matt stood up to greet Caspian. He wasn’t sure how at first, but Cas made it easy by leaning in for a light hug when Matt met him at the door. He smelled nice, too. Freshly showered and citrusy.
Cas was slow to let go of the hug, and excitement prickled through Matt’s body. It had been so damn long since he’d been this happy to hold someone in his arms. All of a sudden, Matt was more confident in his decision. Asking Cas out was absolutely the right call.
“You look great. What can I get you?” Matt led Caspian to the table.
“Thanks. A latte?”
“I’m on it,” Matt smiled. He headed for the counter, trying to contain the butterflies in his stomach.
Doris winked. “Two lattes?”
“Oh, boy. Doris… please don’t listen in to the whole date,” Matt groaned. Then, he blushed. Date. A date, with another guy.
“Fine. I’ll turn up the radio, but only because you asked nicely.” Doris told him with an uncharacteristic little smile. She did so as she passed by to grab the milk.
Oh, God. He was getting the velvet glove treatment. Was he really that visibly nervous?
When Doris handed him the lattes, she leaned over the counter and whispered, “You two look cute together. Relax. Have fun.”
Matt tried to take a deep breath and remind himself that everything was going to be fine. Whether or not Swishy saw him making an idiot of himself. “Thanks.”
He looked around as he headed to the table, but nobody else had arrived. All the solo patrons were still absorbed in books or laptops, and definitely not waiting for a date.
Had they already been and gone? Had they sworn Doris to secrecy? Was there another Grind in town that he didn’t know about? At least it would preserve the mystery a little bit longer.
“Latte for you.” Matt slid one mug across to Cas and smiled as he glanced around again. “This is a cute place. It sounds like she knows you?”
“Dude, she knows everyone,” Cas said, grinning. “Do you come here a lot?”
Matt shook his head. “Only now and then. I try not to drink a lot of coffee. It screws with the metabolism and your energy levels.”
“It does, actually,” Cas admitted. “I’ve noticed that before.” He cast a quick look around, like he was looking
for someone else, which just reminded Matt to do the same. When he smiled at Matt again, he awkwardly twisted his fingers together. “Sorry. I just heard a friend was coming here.”
“Me t—” Matt’s mouth hung open in an “o” shape, but he didn’t actually finish the word. Was it possible—how the hell hadn’t he thought of this before? But it wasn’t that small a town, was it? And how the hell did he ask “are you swishy like wine” without horribly offending him?
He pulled out his phone and sent a single smiley face to Swishy.
They waited for half a second.
Cas’s phone made a quiet ping sound.
Caspian stared blankly at him for a moment before he gasped and covered his mouth. “No way.”
Exactly what Matt was thinking. “Were you expecting a friend to come here on a date, too?”
“Unicorn?”
Matt burst out laughing and covered his face as he bent over the table. Oh, my God. No way. It can’t be.
“No!” Cas gasped. “Oh, my God. No way. Are you?”
Matt was laughing so hard he couldn’t breathe, but he finally nodded.
Cas’s laugh bubbled up and spilled out just as uncontrollably.
“What’s all that fuss about over there?” Doris asked, but neither of them could answer. Every time they looked at each other, they started laughing again. She scoffed and turned the radio up a bit louder, which just made Matt crack up again.
“So you’re… Swishy,” Matt finally managed, choking back another giggle at the name.
“At your service,” Cas teased, pretending to bow and swishing his arms out as he did so.
Matt’s heart was light—not just light, but soaring, his spirits flying higher than they had in so very long. His relief was almost overwhelming.
He didn’t have to let anyone down. The guy who’d agreed to be BFFs was the very same guy he’d been trying to understand his attraction towards for a couple of weeks.
