This was not the first time Josh Washington had tried to coerce Chris into the basement.

"Dude, no. I'm not going down into your creepy horror dungeon."

"First of all—" Josh started.

Chris reached over to take the remote from Josh's lap and paused the movie, huffing loudly as he did so.

"—it's my dad's creepy horror dungeon. Technically."

"Not the point."

"Second of all," Josh continued, undeterred, "Halloween is in two weeks—meaning my party is in two weeks—and you still don't have a costume. You pull this shit every year, and every year when you inevitably come crawling to me, I help you out. I'm just trying to be proactive here."

Chris sighed again, lolling his head back against the recliner.

"And third," Josh added, "I don't really like this movie."

Chris' head snapped back up, and he glared harshly at his best friend. "10 Things I Hate About You is a very solid romantic comedy—"

Josh held his hands up in surrender. "I just mean—I just mean, I'd rather be doing other things."

Josh looked at Chris with an unwavering gaze that nearly made him squirm. The silence lingered between them, and Chris wished he'd left the movie running.

When Chris tried to speak, his mouth felt unusually dry. "What are you being this year?"

Josh smirked in response, a faint glimmer in his dark eyes. "Maybe if you come downstairs, I'll show you."

Whoa. Was this flirting? This felt like flirting. Chris' palms were sweaty, and he leaned down to place his bowl of popcorn on the floor, surreptitiously wiping his hands on his jeans in the process.

"You know what? Fine." He looked at Josh, whose grin was even wider now, and he fought to keep a nervous tremor out of his voice. "Find me a costume, asshole."

The stairs leading down to the basement were long and dark and definitely not inviting. Chris groaned.

"Oh, Cochise," Josh purred teasingly. "Need me to hold your hand?"

"No," Chris grumbled, but it was too late. Josh's fingers brushed against his, and Chris' hand twitched reflexively in response. Josh had always been a little touchy, but somehow it never failed to make Chris react.

He entwined their fingers together and squeezed gently, rubbing his thumb across Chris'. "Down we go."

Chris wasn't about to admit it, but the feeling of Josh's hand wrapped around his own was actually comforting. He felt a brief pang of longing when they reached the bottom of the stairs and Josh let go.

"Alright, let's see what we can do." Josh sauntered over to a rack of costumes and started rifling through them. "Got a preference?"

Chris shrugged. The enormous shelves of DVDs that lined the opposite wall were distracting him; he almost always made Josh fetch a movie after they'd chosen, and he rarely saw the display in all its glory. "Surprise me," he said.

Josh chuckled. "O-kay."

A few minutes passed in silence, and Chris was still absorbed in the collection when a pair of hands gripped his waist from behind.

"Boo," said a deep voice.

Chris jumped and whirled around, hating himself for being such an easy scare—and then jumped again when he saw the mask. It was a hideous thing, with hollow black eyes and grossly exposed teeth in a porcelain-white face.

"Holy shit," he exclaimed. "Fuck. Jesus."

"What?" Josh asked, voice muffled. He shrugged innocently. "You said to surprise you."

"Not what I meant, you dick." Chris shoved Josh away from him and Josh laughed. He pulled off the mask.

"So…you're not into that one?"

Chris scoffed, though the way Josh's tongue poked out between his lips was making him decidedly not angry.

"I'm just clarifying, dude," Josh added.

"Whatever," Chris grumbled. He looked away and tried to focus his attention on the costumes. "I'm not taking my eyes off you for a second while we're down here. Maybe even when we're upstairs too."

Josh shrugged again. "Don't see me complaining."

Chris' cheeks reddened, and he practically buried his face into the costume in front of him.

They browsed together before Josh's foot bumped into a box, his face lighting up at the sight of it. "Oh shit, I got it." He dropped to his knees and opened the flaps, pulling out a long string of something that looked like medical tape. He held his hands out to Chris. "Mummy."

Chris tried to imagine his body in skintight wrapping. He didn't much like the thought of it. "I dunno…"

"Chris." Josh stood up and looked at him seriously, the wrapping trailing from his hands. "You would be the cutest mummy."

Chris' mind scrambled for a clever, flirtatious response and came up blank. "Um."

"Do you know how to wrap this?"

"Uh." On a roll tonight, buddy, keep it up. "No. But I can just…look it up on the internet."

Josh sighed. "Believe it or not, Chris, the internet doesn't hold life's answers."

"I mean, no, but it probably has—"

Josh raised a hand to silence him. "I'm a pro. Let me show you." Chris nodded, and they stared at each blankly for a moment.

"Uh, Cochise?" Josh asked. "Are we going to stand here all day, or are you going to take your shirt off?"

"Oh. Oh. Right." Chris reached up with shaky hands to unbutton his shirt, and Josh sighed when he glimpsed the collar of a t-shirt underneath.

"And your other shirt, I guess. Jesus. The weather is still very mild."

"Josh, I am gonna go back upstairs in two seconds if you don't—"

"Alright, alright." Josh crossed his arms over his chest. "Do your thing. I'll be quiet."

"Thank you," Chris said, though he immediately regretted his decision. Disrobing in front of Josh was weird; disrobing in front of Josh in total silence was weirder. Chris was aware of every button he unbuttoned, every nervous breath he took. Josh was, too. His eyes danced around Chris, like he was torn between looking and not looking, and he bit at the corner of his lip.

Chris pulled off his t-shirt and tossed it over the rack. "Okay," he said.

Josh's eyes finally landed on him—really landed on him. They trailed from his collarbone to the waist of his jeans before making their way back up to meet Chris' gaze. "Nice."

"Stop," Chris warned. He fought the impulse to cover his stomach.

"I'm serious," Josh said, taking a step closer. "You think I'm not serious?"

Chris made a noncommittal noise as Josh reached his arm around Chris' waist to pull the first bit of wrapping around him. He launched into movie mode almost immediately, explaining how to keep it snug but not too tight, how to let little bits hang loose to make it look more realistic.

Chris tried to focus on what his friend was saying—Josh's moments of passion were always something to be treasured—but the situation made it nearly impossible to concentrate. Josh's hands brushing against his warm skin, his face so close that Chris could have easily leaned forward and—

"Chris? You with me?"

Chris jerked out of his reverie, cheeks flushing. "Yeah. Yeah, sorry."

Josh's expression fell slightly. "I didn't mean to go off on a tangent—"

"No! You didn't—I was—I just got distracted."

Josh's head tilted to the side, and he looked at Chris inquisitively. A smile played at the corners of his lips. "Yeah? By what?"

Chris suddenly realized that Josh's hands had fallen to his waist, and he glanced down at the almost nonexistent space between them, blinking stupidly.

"I…" he started, but one of Josh's hands was moving up to lift his chin, and Josh's lips were on his before he had time to think of an excuse.

Chris froze. Josh was kissing him. Joshua Washington was kissing him. His lips were soft and tentative against Chris'—not at all the kind of kiss that Chris would have expected from him (not that he'd thought about it, repeatedly, for the past three years), but welcome nonetheless.

Chris' brain finally kicked into gear and he reciprocated, hooking his arms around Josh's neck as Josh snaked his own around Chris' back, pulling them closer together. Chris' exposed skin was thrilling and terrifying at the same time, and he tried to fight the panic that was starting to bubble in his chest.

It didn't work.

"Wait," Chris blurted, using what felt like all of his willpower to pull away. "What—what are we doing?"

Josh arched an eyebrow. "Pretty sure we're sucking faces."

"I mean, like, what…what is this? Do you bring everyone down into your creepy-ass basement to make out?"

Josh's eyes lit up in understanding, and he laughed, warm and reassuring. "No." He leaned forward to press another ridiculously soft kiss to Chris' lips. "And I don't kiss everyone like this either."

Chris tried to swallow around a lump in his throat. "Oh. Okay. That's—okay."

Josh's fingers traced down Chris' back, making his spine tingle. "Are we good?" Josh asked.

Chris nodded, and Josh smiled approvingly.

"Good," he said. "Because I am so not done making out with you."