Author's Note: The person who suggested this story idea is celebrating a birthday today, and I'm using this space to wish them a VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I'm beginning to wonder if I'll still be working on this story on your next birthday, but even if I am, it'll be in large part due to your encouragement and support of what I'm doing here, and I thank you for that.

Kendall was close to graduating, and the NHL was calling. Everyone agreed he had the talent to play pro, but most (if not all) teams were worried about his size. He was just so damn skinny. They were afraid he'd get broken in two the first time he took a real hit on the ice. And they weren't too sure about his stamina, if he'd be able to get through an entire NHL season without his body breaking down. It was pretty much expected he'd have to prove himself on a farm team first. And Kendall had no problem with that-as long as the team was located in the northeast. He got himself an agent and let his wishes be known, and his agent did a good job of letting teams know where Kendall Knight would be happiest-and where he probably wouldn't sign even if it was his only chance to get to the NHL. So, on draft day, the San Jose Sharks were thrilled to see he was still available when their turn came. Their AHL affiliate played in Worcester, Massachusetts, forty miles due west of Boston.

Kendall signed a contract right away, and both he and Logan were thrilled and vastly relieved that Kendall would be playing for a team so close to Boston. Any other team and Kendall would've had to live someplace else and come "home" to Logan when he could. But playing in Worcester meant he could live with Logan, so they decided to use some of his signing bonus to move to nicer digs-and Logan wanted them to be midway between Boston and Worcester, but Kendall thought that was silly. He thought they should stay in Cambridge to be as close to Harvard as possible for Logan. In the end they compromised and decided to look at places on Route 9. That would give Kendall a straight drive into and out of Worcester, and still be close enough to Harvard that Logan's T rides wouldn't take up too much of his time. They got a realtor and let her know what they had in mind.

"I might know of just the place-it's in Brookline, just a few streets over from Nine, but you'll have to see if the place wants you," the realtor told them.

"What does that mean? 'If the place wants us'?" Logan asked.

"I can't exactly explain it-I'll just have to see if I can get you an interview with the building's owner."

She was able to do so, and one Saturday morning shortly before Kendall's BU graduation, drove them over to Brookline. Spring was at its height and everything looked green and growing and fresh. Lawns and gardens were in their first flush of beauty, the grass pale green and the flowers light pinks and yellows and lavenders and blues. The neighborhood the realtor drove them into was friendly and inviting. She pulled into the long driveway of a triple decker and they all got out.

They walked up a set of stairs and the realtor pressed a buzzer for 2H. A voice on the intercom said, "Alice, is that you?" and the realtor confirmed it was indeed she, and they got buzzed in. The three of them walked up a wooden staircase to the second floor, passing a man on his way down who had a poodle on a leash with him, the dog's hair unstyled and curly and shaggy instead of poofed up like a show dog, and on the landing, standing in the open doorway, was a tall woman dressed in a flowing silky dress of jewel tones and a snazzy pattern. The guys liked her instantly, she gave off a very friendly vibe. She hugged Alice and shook each of the guys' hands.

"Hi fellas, I'm Lorraine. It's a pleasure to meet you-Alice wasn't kidding, you're both adorable."

Logan instantly blushed, looking even more adorable. Lorraine was thrilled.

"The pleasure's all ours. I'm Kendall, and this is Logan." Logan shyly mumbled a hello.

"Well, let's not all stand out here in the hall like a bunch of fools-come on in and see the place, tell me what you think!" And with that, Lorraine whirled around and led them into the hallway. There were two shut apartment doors on either side of them, one labeled 2H and the other one 2J. Lorraine produced a key from a pocket in her dress and opened up the door to 2J. Logan was looking at the brass number and letter on the door, and then at 2H across the hall, and then peering down the hall to see if there were more numbered doors. There weren't.

"You're wondering about the numbering system?" Lorraine said. "You are a smart one, aren't you? I live over in 2H, and the H is to honor my late husband Howie. All the floors here have an H-1H downstairs, 2H here, and3H upstairs. It's just a notion I had when I moved in, and at first I was going to name the other apartments 1I and 2I and 3I, but a mail carrier friend of mine pointed out that capital I's can look like the number one, so I jumped to J. Make sense?"

Logan nodded. Lorraine led them into the empty apartment, still talking. "Yeah, so, Howie was the love of my life. We met and it was fate-from that day forward I knew he was the only one for me. He was a foot shorter than me and I'm Italian Catholic and he was Jewish but none that mattered. His mother hated me, but when he died unexpectedly ten years ago, she gave me this building and told me I had to manage it for her, that she had always intended to leave it to Howie when she passed on, but that it was as good a time as any to give it to me. She saved my life, I swear to god, by giving me a reason to keep going. And she finally admitted she did it on purpose, right before she died. She said she realized when she saw how devastated I was when Howie died that I really did love him. I told her she must've been blind as a bat all the years we were together then. She pulled me out of my grief enough to get feisty with her. Well, anyway, she gave me this place to be the landlord of, and I decided to sell the little place Howie and I had in Brighton and move in here. The change did me good."

"We know a little something about that," Kendall said. "My family moved after my dad died and it seemed to help."

Lorraine smiled a sad smile at him. "I'm sorry you can understand due to firsthand knowledge. And I'm sorry my mother-in-law waited till her son was gone to accept me, but at least in the end, she finally did. I swear the old bat's haunting this place to this day-lots of potential tenants have checked the place over in the past, on all the floors, but will get a feeling of bone chilling cold and get scared off. But luckily someone else comes along and the place just accepts them without a peep. But enough talk! Go, look at the place, let me know what you two think!"

Kendall and Logan did just that. The apartment ran front to back the entire length of the building. It was built somewhere around the turn of the previous century, so the rooms were large, the ceilings high, and the craftsmanship was clearly evident. The floors were all hardwood, except in the kitchen and bathrooms, the latter of which had real tile on the floors and walls. The kitchen was big and roomy and full of light with a light gray formica floor that had shiny specks imbedded in it, the full bath had an old fashioned claw foot tub that looked long enough, and was deep enough, for Kendall to get a good soak in, the master bedroom had a window seat, but the room that stole Logan's heart was the living room. Along one wall there were three built-in floor to ceiling bookcases. The mahogany woodwork gleamed in the sun coming through two large windows on the opposite side of the room, which also had window seats. Kendall and Logan just stood in the middle of the room and gawked. Kendall had heard Logan's gasp of breath when he first saw the bookcases and knew he was hooked. This place had to be their home, it just had to! Alice joined them and was explaining that the fireplace in the living room between the two windows wasn't operational.

"The chimneys in the building have been blocked up-it'd cost too much to insure the place if everyone had working fireplaces these days," she explained.

"That's okay, we could get one of those wrought iron candle-holders that hold votives on different levels and put that in there," Kendall said. Logan nodded absentmindedly. He was still looking at the bookcases. "Logan, let's go check out the bedroom again," Kendall said, the grin audible in his voice. Logan turned to him with a big smile and nodded. Alice hung back while they went down the hall, holding hands. At the end of the apartment, they got to the master bedroom. There were a couple of smaller rooms along the way that Logan was already picturing as an office and a spare bedroom for when the various family members came to visit. But the master bedroom really captured his imagination. Spacious and yet still cozy, and of course empty it looked bigger than it would with their stuff in it.

"We can finally get a bigger bed," Logan laughed.

"But not too big-I'm used to having you close," Kendall said seriously.

"Of course," Logan smiled. They checked out the master bathroom again. Kendall climbed into the clawfoot tub, but stayed standing.

"Kendall," Logan hissed, "what are you doing?"

"Making sure this showerhead is up high enough for me to wash my hair under," he replied in all seriousness. There was a pole coming up from behind the tub with a showerhead attached to that, not coming out of a wall like they were used to. But the pole was plenty high enough for even Kendall to stand underneath the showerhead. Kendall climbed out of the tub and then turned the water on, checking the pressure. It was good and strong. He grinned at Logan. "I love everything about this place."

"Me too, but I still wonder if the place wants us," Logan said. They walked back into the master bedroom and there was a door to the outside there, so they unlocked it from the inside and went out. They found themselves on a good sized porch, overlooking a fenced in backyard. The yard was roomy and level and there were big shade trees around the edges. Logan and Kendall tested the porch wall and then leaned their elbows on it, looking over the yard. Alice caught up with them again.

"Great yard, right? Lorraine has a grill down there all the tenants can use, and here," Alice turned around and pulled a contraption down out of the wall near the porch door into the apartment, it looked like a bunch of sticks that fanned out as it came away from the wall, "you can hang clothes to dry!"

"Wow, cool," Kendall said.

Lorraine was in the doorway. "Sorry, I know Alice would tell me to let you poke around on your own, but I have to stick my nose in. Do you like the place?"

"We love it," they both replied at the same time.

"Let's talk turkey," Lorraine said. "Your paperwork's in the kitchen."

They followed her back there and saw that Alice had left her briefcase on one of the countertops. It was now open, and Lorraine picked up a sheaf of papers that was lying next to it. "This is the application Alice had you fill out. I've got to say, it's one of the most impressive set of reference letters I've ever had the pleasure of reading. All your professors and your current landlord can't say enough good stuff about you. And your finances seem in order, even if Kendall hasn't even begun working yet." Kendall had already signed a minor league contract, and there were provisions even if he couldn't play due to injuries, so they should be all right rentwise. Logan was still in med school and that carried major debt, even with student loans that he wouldn't have to pay back till he was through, but he also had a job working on a research project year round, and he received a monthly stipend for that. Kendall didn't have any student loans, he had had a full ride on his hockey scholarship, and the only money he had ever touched in his college fund was for books and traveling back and forth from Minnesota to BU. He wanted his mom to add the rest of his fund to Katie's, but she was insisting that he use some of the money to buy furnishings when they found a place. The Sharks had given him a signing bonus that he was using to buy a car and for the first and last month's rent and security deposit on whatever new apartment they wound up in.

"Do you have any questions about the place? Alice told you what the rent is, and that includes utilities and trash removal-you'd have your own bucket that we keep out back and trash and recycling goes out to the curb on Thursdays. There's a washer and dryer downstairs in the cellar that all the tenants use on a rotating schedule: the first floor gets to use them on Mondays and Tuesdays, the second floor Wednesdays and Thursdays, the third floor Fridays and Saturdays, and Sunday is a free for all-first come, first served. And of course if you ever have a laundry emergency, the other floors are pretty flexible about letting you use them on one of their designated days. We're within walking distance of a Green Line bus, and of course that'll take you to the trains. The neighborhood's safe and quiet, there's all sorts of shops and restaurants close by, and a grocery store…I can't think what else, but this really is a great place to live, if I do say so myself. Did you see the butler's pantry?" Lorraine wound up her sales pitch there.

"I glanced in there, would you mind showing it to me?" Logan asked. Once they were in there, he admired the shelves and cabinets and the spots for everything he could imagine sorting away to run their happy home. There was even a stepstool folded up and stuck in a perfect spot between a closet and some shelves. "Did the last tenant forget that here?" Logan asked.

"Nope, that comes with the place. You'll need it for the top bookshelves," Lorraine smiled.

"Lorraine, I noticed a man walking a dog down the stairs from the third floor," Logan said quietly, not wanting Kendall to overhear from the kitchen where he and Alice were looking at the appliances. "Do you allow dogs?"

"Yup, as long as they're not loud or vicious. That was Glenn, he lives in 3H, and his dog's name is Lucky. They've been here a few years now. The walls in this place are good and thick, a dog barking normally won't bother anyone, I'm not saying they have to be perfect, dogs are supposed to bark sometimes. Do you have a dog?"

"Not yet, but Kendall's always wanted one, and now that we're finally leaving dorm life really and truly behind and will have some room, I want him to have one. I'm thinking of getting him one as a graduation present."

Lorraine looked at Logan admiringly. "I get the feeling you always want to give Kendall anything his heart desires. You two remind me of Howie and me."

Logan smiled, he got the feeling that was one of the highest compliments Lorraine could give a couple.

They returned to the kitchen and Kendall asked Logan, "What do you think?"

"I loved the place from the moment we got here, and then seeing those bookcases…and wait till you see the butler's pantry! There's so much space for putting everything away!" Kendall laughed, he knew how much Logan hated clutter. It was a wonder Logan had been able to put up with Kendall the past four years living in close quarters.

"Well, Lorraine, will you have us? Does the place want us?" Kendall asked.

"The place wants you, and so do I. You're more than welcome to join in," Lorraine said. They signed the lease then and there, and went back to their apartment to plan the move. Technically they had the place as of June 1st, and it was only early May, but Lorraine told them to feel free to start moving their stuff in anytime, and she gave them two sets of keys. Kendall's graduation was in mid-May, so Logan figured they'd get through that first before they really started buying furniture and bringing things over to the Brookline place. They were both excited that they'd be able to show the apartment to all the family when they flew out for Kendall's commencement exercises. Both families' sets of grandparents had come out when Logan graduated, and now they planned to do the same for Kendall.

Logan was showing his buddies Mark and Amelia and some others at school pictures of the new apartment on his phone.

"Those hardwood floors are gorgeous, but your feet will freeze in the winter," Amelia said.

"Maybe not, we are on the second floor. But I want to get a dog for Kendall, and doggie toenails might do a job on the finish-I was thinking we can go to that store called Ocean State Job Lots and get some area rugs. They're always advertising faux Oriental rugs at low low prices. The rooms are so big though, I'm betting we'll need at least two rugs each in the living room and bedroom," Logan said.

Mark looked thoughtful. "I might be able to help you guys out, if you're willing to rent a U-haul and drive it to the Cape."

"What do you have in mind?" Logan asked.

"Let me talk to my gran-I'll get back to you ASAP. Just, don't buy anything yet, okay?" Mark replied.

"Uh, sure, we're not in any hurry," Logan said. "We're not moving in till after Kendall graduates."

Mark checked with his gran, who had a summer house on Cape Cod that she was bequeathing to her children to share equally amongst them. She was giving it to them now so they wouldn't have to pay an inheritance tax on it if she waited till she died.

"She has all these huge old Persian rugs in there that she quote, 'knows my gold digging daughters-in-law will tear up and throw out the minute they get down there this summer, now that the place is technically theirs,' unquote," Mark explained when he called Logan and told him to rent a truck, the rugs were theirs for the taking. "I gotta say, in my mom's case she's right. Mom is itching to go down there and modernize the whole look of the place. It's gonna look like Martha Stewart crapped out an issue of her magazine by the time she's done."

It was another beautiful spring day when Logan and Kendall and Mark drove down to the Cape, the three of them in the cab of a rental truck. Once they were over the bridge at the Cape Cod Canal, it was still another hour of driving to Wellfleet. They arrived at midmorning.

"I thought you said this was a summer place?" Logan said to Mark as they pulled up in front of a massive house. "This place looks like Pemberley in Pride and Prejudice."

"It's not that big," Mark shrugged. He had grown up with it, he didn't see anything too unusual about it.

"It's no summer cottage," Logan said back.

"You should see Gran's main residence," Mark grinned, shutting off the truck and unbuckling his seatbelt.

They walked up the steps of the front porch. A gracious older lady had stepped out to meet them.

"Hi, Gran," Mark said with a smile. "These are my friends I was telling you about, Logan Mitchell and Kendall Knight. Logan, Kendall, my grandmother, Mrs. Harrison."

"Pleased to meet you," Mrs. Harrison said, offering her hand to each of them in turn.

"Hello," Logan and Kendall each said while shaking her hand.

"The rugs are just inside-they're rolled up but you can see enough of them by folding back a corner," Mrs. Harrison explained. "Mark sent me a rough estimate of your rooms' dimensions, and I'm sure you'll find several choices you like. He failed to mention if you have a hallway, but I would assume you do?" She raised her eyebrows, both boys nodded, and Logan threw in a "yes ma'am". "Good, there are a couple of runners, I hoped you could put one to good use." She led the way inside and then gestured at an open doorway. The guys went inside, Mrs. Harrison apparently wasn't going in with them.

The rugs were leaning up against the wall of an empty room. Logan and Kendall got closer, and Logan noticed a label stitched onto the back of one of the carpets. He gasped and turned to Mark.

"These are Aubusson rugs!" he said to Mark.

"So?"

"So? So, they're worth tens of thousands of dollars-each! She can't give these away-they should be in a museum or something!" Logan said.

"Nonsense," Mrs. Harrison said. Logan jumped. He hadn't noticed her come in. "You are right about the value of the rugs, and I'm impressed that you've heard of them, but these rugs are still in great condition and they were made to be used, not hanging on some gallery wall someplace. How many rugs need to be on display? There are already plenty of examples of Aubusson rugs around the world, these should continue to be of use to people."

Kendall was just looking back and forth between Logan and Mrs. Harrison while they were talking, and now he looked at the rugs again. Even though they were rolled up with the backs on the outside, you could see the patterns woven into them in reverse. They looked very pretty to Kendall.

"Mr. Mitchell, I insist that you pick any of these that are to your liking. If I tried to store them, I'm afraid moths would get to them, and maybe even mice and rats. It makes much more sense that they get used and enjoyed," Mrs. Harrison insisted.

"That pale green and creamy colored one would look great in the bedroom," Kendall said, pointing to an especially large rug with the corner folded back. He didn't see what the big deal was-the old lady wanted her carpets to go to a good home, he'd give them a good home.

"And it compliments your eyes, Mr. Knight!" Mrs. Harrison said with a smile. Here was a young man she could work with.

Logan looked at Kendall, who raised his eyebrows at him.

"I've always thought red would look nice in a dining room," Logan said slowly, looking at another of the rugs.

"Exactly the room I used that one in," Mrs. Harrison said, sounding very pleased.

The boys spent the next half hour looking at the rugs and deciding what might look best where. Mrs. Harrison joined in, offering opinions and pressing them to take more than one rug for their larger rooms. All the wool rugs were so beautiful, it was hard to choose. There were rich dark jewel tones and softer natural shades and they did a good job of picking out a variety of colors and patterns.

"You'll have to come and see our apartment once we've moved in," Kendall said warmly.

"My dear boy, I wouldn't want to impose…"

"Impose?" Logan said. "It won't be any imposition at all! You'll be the reason our apartment looks so nice. You really do have to come, if you can."

"I have to admit, I'd love to. I'll be very curious to see them in their new home."

"And if you ever want them back…" Kendall began, but Mark's grandmother cut him off.

"No, these are yours now, to do what you will. If you ever decide to remodel, or if you move and want to leave them behind or dispose of them, you have every right," Mrs. Harrison insisted.

"I promise you, whenever we get our own house, we'll use these rugs in it," Logan said. Kendall nodded.

"I'm glad," Mrs. Harrison said.

Driving back to Boston, Logan asked Mark if he was getting any of the rugs.

"No, my apartment already has all wall to wall carpeting, and I like it. Gran's putting a bunch of the furniture from the summer place in storage, and when my cousins and me get to the point of having our own houses, we'll pick and choose some stuff from all that-she has some great pieces. But it's true what she said about trying to store rugs-my mom and dad spend a fortune on a climate controlled storage place, but moths managed to get in there. And their wool rugs were wrapped in plastic too. Good thing they were insured."

Kendall looked at Logan. "You weren't exaggerating about the tens of thousands of dollars?"

"Not one bit. Are you going to turn into one of those people that insist on people taking their shoes off at our place?" Logan laughed.

"No, I'll try to adopt Mark's grandmother's attitude that these things are meant to be used and not treated like treasures," Kendall said.

They got all the carpets laid in the various rooms of the apartment and they were gorgeous. Then they decided they could move all of Logan's books in since the shelves were there and ready. They'd worry about buying furniture after Kendall graduated. They spent another Saturday morning packing up all the books they owned that they had with them in Massachusetts and lugged them up to the apartment. Once all the boxes were up there, they proceeded to get them onto the shelves. Logan had planned which books he wanted where when he was packing them into the boxes, now it was just a matter of getting them onto the shelves, and he started at the top shelves first, standing on the step ladder from the butler's pantry while Kendall handed the books up to him.

They had only gotten to the second top shelf when Kendall said, "I want you."

Logan stopped midway to putting the small stack of books in his hand on the shelf and looked at Kendall. "Take me," he said, jamming the books onto the shelf on their sides, not even looking to see that they weren't going to fall, he put his hands on Kendall's shoulders and half leapt off the ladder and into Kendall's body. They both fell to their knees and were pulling each other's tank tops off while kissing heatedly. Logan lowered himself down to the floor, getting his legs stretched out straight and pulling on Kendall to keep kissing him. Kendall was trying to get both his and Logan's shorts off at the same time, and they were kissing and grunting and moaning.

Kendall pulled away from Logan. "Ah, shit, wait here," he breathed, pushing himself up and pulling his shorts up as he ran towards the door. Logan stayed on the floor, panting and pulling his shorts and boxer briefs all the way off and kicking off his shoes and socks and waiting. Kendall was back quickly, but more out of breath than ever-he had run down the backstairs and out to their car to get a tube of lubricant out of the glove compartment.

"When we get some furniture, we're going to store lube in every room of this apartment," Kendall said.

"Great decorating tip-I'll send it in to Better Homes and Gardens," Logan said back, kissing even more of the breath out of Kendall as he took the lube from him so his hands would be free to get his shorts off. Kendall was completely naked now, and had Logan squirt some lube onto his fingers. Kendall stuck his index finger into Logan, only to have Logan stick one of his own fingers, also lubed, in there as well.

"What are you doing?" Kendall asked.

"Hurrying this along-I need you," Logan replied. The feeling of Logan's finger alongside his own, rubbing up and down opposite to Kendall's was driving Kendall into a lust-filled frenzy.

"Are you ready?" Kendall asked, feeling he was about to burst. Logan nodded, and Kendall pushed his lubed cock into Logan just as Logan was pulling his own finger out, which he traced down Kendall's length and circled around his balls. Kendall pushed into Logan, trying to hold back but still going faster than he normally would-he wanted Logan so badly right now.

"It's okay, baby, you can move, I want it too," Logan was saying, his voice agitated and urgent. Kendall was pounding into him, Logan encouraging every thrust. "Yes, yes, yes, yes!"

"So close, Logan, I'm so fucking close!"

"Just let go, come on, it's good, I'm close too," Logan assured him. Kendall put his hand on Logan's cock and felt the throbbing.

"Come first, come on, Logan, fuck, you feel so good!" Kendall could feel his knees burning from rubbing on the wool rug, and fleetingly wondered how Logan's bare ass felt. Then it didn't matter, Logan was coming, and clenching around Kendall, and Kendall fell deeper into Logan and came himself.

When Kendall could focus again, he looked down at Logan, his dark hair and dark eyes complimented by the deep royal blue of the living room rug underneath him. Logan was actually glowing, a blissful smile on his face and a sheen of perspiration covering his pale skin.

"You are so beautiful," Kendall breathed, leaning down to kiss him softly.

"You are," Logan whispered back after the kiss.

Kendall winced as his knees rubbed against the rug when he went to stand up, but it was even worse when Logan stood up and bent back down to pick his clothes up off the floor-his shoulder blades had been rubbed raw. Kendall sucked in his breath. "Logan, your back…I'm so sorry."

Logan tried to crane his neck around far enough to see. "It does sting a bit, but it didn't bother me at the time," he grinned. Kendall still looked miserable.

"I didn't mean to…let me help you with that," Kendall said, taking Logan's tank top from him and delicately placing it over Logan's head, trying to keep the material from rubbing against the shoulder blades.

"Kendall, it'll grow back, it's fine."

But when they got back to their tiny apartment, Kendall insisted on getting Logan right into the shower and Kendall joined him to gently clean his "wounds".

"If you use the back brush or a loofah, you'll just scrape it more," Kendall told him. Logan gave in and let Kendall softly rub organic body wash over his shoulder blades. Then Kendall's hands snuck around Logan's waist and started cleaning him off in front as well.

"I can reach that by myself," Logan laughed.

"Allow me, I want to take care of all of you." So, Logan let him.