A/N: Hello again everyone! New chapter alert! :D

Before we get started, I would like to thank everyone that read last chapter! I would also like to give a huge thank you to winterschild11, Side1ways, RainbowDiamonds, XxxAnimaniacxxX, Guest, and TheLoganTrain for reviewing!

I hope you all enjoy!

When I walked into the dealership, I immediately zeroed in on Kendall and the salesman sitting at a desk by the windows. As I came closer, Kendall gestured at me. The salesman nodded, but deflated a little. I swore I could see oh fuck, another Millennial written all over his face.

Suppressing a smirk, I continued in their direction.

When I reached the desk, the salesman rose. "Hi, I'm Chris." Smiling tightly, he extended his hand. "You must be James."

I shook his hand. "That's what my office door says, yes."

He blinked.

Now it was Kendall obviously trying to hold back a smirk. Schooling his expression, he said, "Sorry for the short notice."

"Don't worry about it. I work right up the street, so I took an early lunch. Easy peasy."

"Well, this shouldn't take long." Chris said, clearing his throat and taking his seat again as he gestured for me to take the empty seat beside Kendall. "Just have some forms for you to fill in." Beat. "And of course, we'll have to do a credit check." He eyed me expectantly, as if he was certain I'd balk.

I took a pen out of my shirt pocket and clicked it. "Bring it on."

More confusion and uncertainty played in Chris' expression, but he slid a clipboard with some papers across the desk. "Can I get either of you some coffee?"

"Oh, I could go for some." I smiled sweetly at him as I crossed my legs and balanced the clipboard on my thigh. "Just a little bit of sugar, but otherwise black."

He blinked. I wondered what he'd expected. After a couple awkward seconds, he nodded before getting up and leaving.

As soon as the salesman was out of earshot, Kendall muffled a snort.

I glanced at him, my innocent face still plastered on. "What?"

Kendall rolled his eyes. "Some things never change, do they?"

"Like what?" I gestured in the direction Chris went with my pen. "I never used to put sugar in my coffee at all."

Chuckled, he gave my leg a playful kick. "Not that. I'm saying you're still the same guy who used to gloat when he got carded for R-rated movies."

I half-shrugged as I started filling out the form. "You would've gloated too if your fake ID was as good as mine." I wagged my pen in his direction. "In fact, I seem to recall you gloating over the fact that nobody ever carded you for shit."

He smirked, and damn if it wasn't that same smug expression he'd always gotten when the box office handed him a ticket without a second glance when we knew damn well they'd want fourteen pieces of ID and notarized permission from my parents for good measure despite him being four months younger than me.

"Guess that baby face of yours is still a double-edged sword?"

"Uh-huh." I rolled my eyes and started writing again. "You know I still get carded for drinks sometimes?"

"I don't doubt it." He spoke without missing a beat, and when I met his gaze, there wasn't even a hint of self-consciousness in his expression. If there had been, I might have cautiously asked just how much he'd been looking at me since he'd moved in. But it was like he didn't even realize it was unusual for a straight dude to notice so much about another guy, and I was afraid me pointing it out would make him self-conscious. It might mortify him.

It might make him stop looking at me like that.

I cleared my throat and once again focused on the paperwork. "Give it time." I said. "Sooner or later, my age is going to catch up with me. I'll probably wake up one morning looking forty-seven."

He laughed. "Yeah. Probably the day you turn eighty." Something about his tone made my spine tingle. Something...wistful? Shit, was I imagining that?

But I didn't let myself steal a glance at his expression to see if his eyes betrayed anything. Truth was, this had always been Kendall's way. It was one of the reasons having a crush on him had always been so excruciating-because every now and then he'd make some comment, or he'd touch me, or we'd make eye contact, and I'd seriously wonder if maybe he wasn't so straight after all. I'd tortured myself with that when we were teenagers. I wasn't going to start that shit again now.

I'm just not used to it anymore. That's all.

Which explains why I can't remember how to spell my last name, what my address is, or where the fuck I work…

I shook myself and managed to start coughing up all he information the dealership needed to let me co-sign on Kendall's car.

Chris returned a moment later with the coffee I so didn't need. I thanked him before taking a polite sip and restraining a decidedly less polite gag. What part of just a little bit of sugar did he not understand? I swore this man had just rendered the sugarcane extinct in the process of making my coffee. Blech.

But I not only had a baby face, I had a damn good poker face, and I was pretty sure I made it to the end of both the forms and coffee without tipping my hand. Chris didn't seem to notice how nauseated I was by his weapons-grade sweetening job, and Kendall didn't seem to notice the wheels spinning in my head. Mission accomplished.

"Okay." I handed the clipboard back to Chris and pocketed my pen. "That should be everything."

Chris took the paperwork and skimmed over it. Then he cleared his throat and shot us both a smarmy salesman smile. "Everything looks good." He got up and gestured at the opposite end of the dealership. "I'll have the financing department do their thing, and if it comes back approved"-he grimaced like he wasn't optimistic-"we'll go from there."

With a wink, I said, "Do your worst, sweetheart."

His features tightened slightly at the endearment. I smiled to drive it home, and he cleared his throat as he hurried out with the paperwork.

Beside me, Kendall was almost vibrating with amusement.

I kept my poker face firmly in place. "What?"

Kendall patted my thigh as if that was a totally normal thing for a straight man to do, scrambling my thoughts with a gentle touch. "You know what you did."

I'm pretty sure you don't know what you did, though.

My mouth had suddenly gone dry, and I had to fight to speak, never mind keep my tone casual. "What? He implied my pristine credit wouldn't be approved, and he made my coffee so sweet I'm going to have to swing into the dentist on my way home." I hoped my exaggeratedly indignant huff masked how much my head was spinning "He deserved it."

"Fair enough." And now he was watching me. No, studying me. Focused on me with an intensity I didn't remember from our younger years. Okay, so it had been hard to focus that hard when we'd been stoned or drunk off our asses, but we hadn't always been stoned or drunk, so was this something new? Or was my memory fading?

I fought a losing battle against the urge to fidget. "What?"

He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes just slightly.

"Are you okay?" He tensed a bit. "You...you don't mind this, do you? Me calling you down here to co-sign and-"

"Oh my god, no!" A laugh burst out of me. "Are you kidding? Dude, you know me."

"Yeah, I do, but…" He trailed off, but didn't look away. Fuck. His eyes. So focused.

I finally let myself fidget. Goddamn. I was suddenly nervous enough that my internal censor was liable to go completely MIA, and I had to almost literally bite my tongue to keep from suggesting he use a body part other than his eyes to drill into me.

That though made my breath hitch, and there was no hiding it. What the hell was wrong with me?

Apparently, I wasn't the only one wondering that-Kendall's gaze intensified even more. "What's wrong?"

Well you see it all started with this hot straight guy who doesn't even know he's eye-fucking me and-

I coughed again and managed to laugh. "Sorry. I'm sorry." I shook my head. "I guess a part of me is still just getting used to having you back." As soon as the words were out, I wanted to curl up and die. Really? Really? That was the best I could come up with? I should've just made the "drill me with your dick instead of your eyes" comment and been done with it.

But Kendall...smiled. He blushed, too. Dropping his gaze, he said, "Yeah, same here."

I blinked. "Really?"

"Wel, yeah." He hesitated, and then with some work, faced me again. "I practically ghosted you without explanation, and then when my life fell apart, you opened your door for me and…" He gestured at our surroundings. "You don't think it's a little mind-blowing for me?"

I swallowed. "You didn't...you didn't ghost me. We've still been in touch this whole time." As much as seeing each other on social media and posting Happy Birthday! once a year on each other's Facebook walls counted as staying in touch, anyway.

Kendall broke eye contact and stared at something on Chris' desk. "I stopped coming to see you. We practically stopped talking." In a low, bitter tone, he muttered, "Would've been more than that if my ex had her way."

Instantly my hackles went up. I knew about Jo's nonsense, but it still made my teeth grind. "Ken. Look at me."

He did, eyebrows drawn together and forehead creased.

"Stop beating yourself up, okay? Water under the bridge, as far as I'm concerned." I said. "And yeah, I know it's surreal to be back in each other's lives, but tell me you know me better than that. Like you don't actually think I'd leave you up Shit Creek."

"I do know you better than that." His shoulders sank, and the dealership chair creaked under him as he squirmed. "I just thought I blew it, you know? I wouldn't have held it against you if you hadn't reached out." He paused, and his voice was a little thick as he added, "I'm just really grateful you did."

I held his gaze and smiled. He smiled back. Then I ran my thumb alongside his hand and-

Wait.

I dropped my gaze to where my hand rested on top of his on his leg. When the fuck had I taken his hand?

My head snapped up, and I almost jerked my hand away, but Kendall was still smiling at me, and he wasn't pulling his hand away.

Of course he wasn't. Casual contact like this had always been easy for us back in the day. Apparently it was still easy now-I just needed to get used to it again.

The sharp snap of dress shoes on linoleum broke the spell, and we both turned-and I casually withdrew my hand-as Chris strode toward us. From the way his eyes flicked toward our laps, he'd noticed, but he didn't say anything about it. Instead, he held up another form. "You're approved!"

Kendall exhaled. "Oh, thank God."

"Honey." I elbowed him and said in a stage whisper, "I told you not to call me that in public."

He laughed, and there was some kind of comeback, but I didn't catch it because I was way too hypnotized by his broad smile after that fraught moment we'd just shared.

You have no idea how beautiful you are.

Chris flopped down in his chair, dramatically breaking me out of my trance because fuck him. "And you got a much lower interest rate than finance or I expected."

I glared at him, as much for pulling my attention from Kendall's laughter as the implication that my credit deserved anything but the best interest rate available. "You sound surprised."

"Well, I…" He met my eyes, and when he blushed, he wasn't nearly as adorable as Kendall. Coughing into his fist, he started shuffling papers around. "Most people end up a little higher than that, so it's...it was...Anyway. We just need to finalize a few things, and you'll be on your way."

Good. Fewer opportunities for you to put your foot in your damn mouth.

I glanced at Kendall, and my heart sank a little. He was serious again. Sobered, focused, and not touching me. Or letting me touch him.

How do I make that happen again?

I banished that though, though. I knew from experience I was only torturing myself if I read too much into our casual, platonic touches. Or the way he looked at me. Or those offhand comments that made me wonder just how often-and how intently-he looked at me. Or if I encouraged those moments and touches and comments to happen more often.

But damn if torturing myself like that wasn't tempting as hell right about now.

I was seventeen the day I bought my first car.

I'd spent the last year of high school constantly begging my mom to let me take her car so I could go out with friends or drive myself to school instead of taking the bus. Suddenly, I'd been the proud owner of the clunkiest, ugliest piece-of-shit Nissan monstrosity that had over a hundred thousand miles, a few million dents, and made suspicious noises, and I'd been free. Any time I'd wanted to-assuming I could put a couple gallons of gas in the tank-I could go anywhere. It was easily one of the best days of my youth.

And somehow, that had nothing on today. Standing there in the parking lot of a car dealership with the keys to a well-used Toyota Camry in hand, I found myself getting weirdly emotional. Why was this so damn overwhelming?

Beside me, James softly asked, "You okay?"

"Yeah. Just, uh…" I coughed, then turned to him and smiled. "A lot more liberating than I expected."

James smiled and put a hand on my shoulder. "Of course it is. You can get around now. And you're one step closer to getting your life back together."

I blinked. How the fuck could he read my mind better than I could?

Because he's always been able to do that.

Facing the car again, I nodded. "That's about the size of it, yeah. Maybe there's hope for me yet, right?"

"Of course there is." He gave my shoulder a squeeze before withdrawing his hand, leaving a cool spot behind. "I never had any doubt."

"That makes one of us." Please put your hand back.

"Come on, man. You've been dealt some shitty cards recently, but none of it's the end of the world. You've got a job. You've got a car." He paused, and there was a wicked smirk in his voice as he said, "All we need to do now is get you laid."

I groaned. "Yeah, we'll see about that."

James cocked his head. "You don't sound very optimistic."

"Yeah, well." I shrugged, spinning my new key ring on my finger. "I've been out of the game for a while, you know?"

"Eh." He looked me up and down, not even trying to be subtle. When he met my eyes again, he winked and patted my arm. "I don't think you'll have any trouble, dude."

I felt myself blushing, and laughed. "So I've got the James Diamond Seal of Approval. Hear that, ladies?"

He snorted. "Okay, seriously. As long as you don't do something dumb like sending dick pics before the third date, you'll be fine."

"Wait, so it's okay to send dick pics after the third date?"

"Don't know." James shrugged. "I just figure if you play your cards right, she won't need to see pictures of it by the third date, if you know what I mean."

I chuckled. "And here I didn't think you were the type to wait until the third date to get into bed."

"I'm not." He said with mock indignance. "I'm talking about you, not me. If I haven't gone hands-on with his junk by the end of the first night, he's not getting my number." He joked.

Someone coughed, and we both turned to see a middle-aged couple and a balding salesman, all three of whom were staring at us with a mix of bemusement and horror.

Clearing our throats, we turned away again, and both struggled to contain our laughter.

"Okay, okay." He glanced at his phone. "I really need to get my happy ass back to work."

"Right. I don't want you getting back late." I paused. "Thanks again. You're a lifesaver as always."

James smiled, all traces of his mischievousness replaced by warm sincerity. "You're welcome, Ken." He pulled me into a hug. "Enjoy the new ride."

I held on for a second. When had I started actually liking being hugged?

Oh. Right. When it was James. No one disliked a James hug, and I'd missed this almost as much as I'd missed him.

As he let me go, he said, "See you tonight?"

"Yeah. See you tonight."

XxX

"So." James smiled as I came up the stairs to the kitchen a few days later. "How was your first day?"

I blew out a breath and loosened my tie. "Good. It was good. Boss seems pretty chill, and the rest of the staff is nice so far."

His smile broadened. "That's great. Seems like it'll work out, then?"

"Well, it's a little early to tell, but so far so good. No complaints."

"Awesome. You hungry?"

"Oh my god, yeah." I took off my jacket and draped it over a chair. "You?"

"Starving, but I don't feel like cooking or going out. If it's not too far below your refined palate, I was thinking maybe we could order a pizza and park on the couch in front of a movie."

Pizza. A movie. Being lazy. Oh, fuck yeah.

"That actually sounds really good." I paused. "You mind if I change clothes first?"

"Of course not." He shooed me out of the kitchen with a wave of his hand. "I'll go ahead and order. You still do pepperoni and pineapple?"

That gave me pause. "You still remember what I put on my pizza?"

James snorted. "Dude, a man doesn't forget when his friend insists on eating something that gross. Don't flatter yourself. I'm just traumatized."

"Traumatized by pizza toppings. Okay, James." I laughed as I headed down the hall, and threw over my shoulder, "We won't talk about what you put on your burgers."

"Shut up."

Still chuckling, I went into my bedroom and shut the door. For a moment, I just stood there, letting the day's fatigue wash over me. It had been a long day, even if it had been relatively easy. I was still learning my way around the office, and they hadn't sent me out on any appraisal calls yet. That would start next week.

Still, I was drained from meeting an entire building full of new people, being briefed on protocols, and trying to ignore that ever-present certainty I was going to screw up and get fired. I'd had that at every job since my first under-the-table part-time job in a shipping department when I was fifteen. I'd thought it would go away, but apparently not.

Then again, I had been fired fairly recently, so it was probably a reasonable thing to be worried about.

I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands and took a few slow breaths. Everything would be fine. I still had to learn the ins and outs of this particular company, but I knew appraisals. I knew my job. As long as I did it properly-which I always did-I'd be fine. Well, as long as the company didn't get involved with shady shit with a housing lender or throw me under the bus for doing my job…

I shuddered. No point in thinking about that. I had a job. I had no reason to believe this one would take a nosedive like the last one. And for God's sake, I was home for the evening. It was time to relax. Pizza and a movie with my best friend were waiting at the other end of the hall, so why was I standing here in my work clothes, wallowing in worries about things I couldn't control?

With that, I pushed myself off the door and started unbuttoning my shirt while I toed off my dress shoes. I changed into a pair of sweats and a faded sweatshirt, and that alone was enough to kill some of the day's tension. Work was a distant memory. I had nothing to do tonight except be comfortable and chill.

Feeling a hell of a lot better than I had when I'd gotten home, I headed out to the living room to join James for a night of sloth and gluttony.

XxX

I opened my eyes, and panic knifed through the heavy fatigue. Where the hell was I? What time was it? Had I overslept? Oh God, was I late for my second day at the new job?

It only took a second to orient myself, though. The room was dark besides the Netflix menu screen glowing on the TV and gently illuminating the pizza boxes still spread out on the coffee table.

James' downstairs rec room. On the couch.

And James was…

I turned my head.

He'd fallen asleep too-leaning against me. His head rested on my chest and at some point, I'd wrapped my arm around his shoulders and he'd draped his across my stomach. We weren't on opposite ends of the couch anymore, either. Somehow, we'd wound up in the middle.

For a moment, I just stared at him and tried to make sense of how we'd gotten here. Should this have been weird having another dude sleeping against me like this? Maybe. Probably? Hell, I didn't know.

All I knew was that I liked how he felt against me. Which must have meant I was more desperate than I'd realized for some human contact. James had always been on the touchy-feely side, but we'd never...cuddled.

Some of the guys I used to work with-not exactly people I would call friends-would have been on the other side of the room by now, probably losing their ever-loving minds. Then again, they never would have allowed themselves to be on the same piece of furniture as an openly gay man in the first place.

I'd never had an issue with James being gay, and it didn't even seem all that relevant. This wasn't anything sexual. And the more I sat here enjoying the warmth of another human being for the first time in ages, the more I liked it. Like...a lot.

In fact, I must have been seriously starved for human contact because having someone pressed up next to me-having a man pressed up next to me-was making me hard. I tried not to fidget as my erection made sitting like this uncomfortable. There was no way to adjust myself without disturbing him, and I decided I could deal with the discomfort for a while.

After a moment, though, James twitched a little. Then he stiffened. Slowly, he lifted his head, and when our eyes met, he jerked back. "Oh shit!" He scrambled away, putting up his hands. "I'm sorry. I am so...oh my god, Kendall, I-"

"Hey. Easy." I patted the air, almost breathless from the sudden coolness where his body had been pressed against mine. "It's okay."

He looked in my eyes, his filled with palpable panic. The light was too dim to tell for sure, but I would have bet money he'd lost a few shades of color. "I…"

"Relax. I'm serious. It's okay."

He held my gaze, still rigid with panic.

"I mean it. I…" I could feel myself blushing, especially as I tried to surreptitiously shift to accommodate my hard-on. "I kind of liked it, actually."

That brought his freak out down a few notches. "Really?"

"Yeah." I half-shrugged. "It's, um, kind of nice to be touched, I guess." Really nice. Please come back.

Some more tension melted out of his posture, and the embarrassment and panic in his expression shifted to concern. "How long has it been."

"Too long." Two words, and my shoulders suddenly felt heavy. That conversation had way too much potential to get depressing as hell. "Anyway, just...don't worry about…" I gestured at him, then myself. "It's not a big deal."

He studied me uncertainly. "Are you sure? A lot of straight guys...they don't…"

"They're assholes, okay? They're not me." And they have no idea what they're missing.

He held my gaze again, and after a second, a playful glint appeared in his eyes. "Are you trying to tell me you're not an asshole?"

"Why? You trying to say I am?"

He pressed his lips together, but a smirk still came to life.

I laughed and elbowed him. "Jackass."

He chuckled too before pausing to stretch. "Well, I should probably call it a night. I've got a stupid meeting first thing in the morning." He stuck out his tongue and wrinkled his nose. "Boss might get pissy if I fall asleep in the middle of it."

"Bosses are such dicks like that."

"I know, right?" With a groan, he stood. "What about you?"

I checked the time on my phone. "Yeah, I should get some sleep, too." I stood, and for a second, we held each other's gazes. It was almost like we needed to say something more about how we'd found ourselves a minute ago. I didn't know what to say, though, and he didn't offer anything, so in silence, we headed upstairs and down the hall to our respective bedrooms.

He paused in his bedroom doorway. "Goodnight, Kendall."

"Goodnight."

We exchanged tired smiles. Then his door closed behind him. I closed mine behind me.

As I flicked on the light, Hazel lifted her head and glared at me, one eye still closed and the other full of contempt.

"Sorry." I scratched behind her ears, which earned me a swat and an even more offended look. "Hey! That's my bed, you know."

The other eye opened, and I could just hear the "Bitch, this is my dad's bed and we both know it. Fuck off." that she was silently saying.

I laughed, and opened the door a crack in case she wanted to leave. Hopefully that would please Her Highness.

As I started to get undressed, I chuckled. Trust James to have a cat with as much attitude as him, if less filtered. Somehow, I didn't see Hazel sneaking up to cuddle against me during the night.

I stopped, belt partially unbuckled, and stared at one of the two doors separating us from each other. I'd never imagined James cuddling up with me like that, either. Or me moving toward him for the same. Who had initiated it, anyway? Had either of us been awake for it, and my brain was just too fuzzy to recall the details?

Mind still whirring, I continued getting undressed.

James had always been extra careful with hsi straight friends. Whether he knew how we felt about gay dudes or not, he wasn't naive. A guy could insist till he was blue in the face that he was fine with his friends being gay, but a split second of unintentional contact would bring out his true colors in a hurry. So I didn't see James throwing caution to the wind with a straight guy. Not even me.

And now that I thought about it, as much as I was itching for someone-or even James' grumpy ass cat-to curl up with me tonight, it was entirely possible that I'd been the one to make the first move. Consciously or unconsciously, I might have been the one to reach out to him.

I swallowed hard as I tossed my clothes in the hamper. Apparently I was hungrier for human contact than I'd realized. Maybe James was right and I really did need to go out and get laid.

Except tonight hadn't been about sex. God knew what had happened and how we'd ended up arranging ourselves the way we had, but it hadn't been sexual at all. Okay, so my body might have thought otherwise, but that probably had more to do with the fact that I hadn't touched anyone-sexually or otherwise-in ages.

Whatever it was, now I was seriously craving affection. I wasn't sure how to suggest deliberately doing what we'd accidentally done tonight, so cuddling on the couch with James was probably out of the question. Putting myself out there in the dating pool, though? I could do that. Maybe. Or a hookup? Casual sex with a stranger didn't sound appealing, but it did sound better than sleeping alone.

And yet, somehow not nearly as appealing as waking up with James leaning against me.

What the fuck was I supposed to make of that?

Done! So, it looks like Kendall's starting to notice some...things. I wonder where that will lead. :P

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter, as well as if you happened to have a favorite part/moment!

Again, I hope you all enjoyed! The next chapter will most likely be up very soon, and by soon, I mean within the next few days. ;)

Until next time!

-Epically Obsessed