Erwin woke in the morning sore and sated and happy. He felt the bed for Levi but it was cold. Frowning, he looked around. Levi was there; he was sitting at the table carefully sewing something.

Erwin sat up in the bed, stretched and yawned and pulled the sheet over his crotch self consciously.

"Good morning," Levi said. "How're you doing?"

"Sore," Erwin confessed.

"Yeah, I got kind of carried away. Sorry about that."

"No! I loved it."

Levi smiled down at his sewing.

"What are you doing?"

"Sewing the buttons back on your shirt."

Erwin watched him sew with his precise tiny stitches and realized that his shirt and trousers had also been pressed. There was an iron cooling down on a towel on the table.

"You're amazing," Erwin said suddenly.

"Because I can sew on a button?" Levi watched him from under his eyelashes as he tied a knot and bit off the excess thread.

"Just in general."

"Ah." Levi ducked his head, blushing.

"Come to my house," Erwin said suddenly

"Sure, I've been there before so …"

"I mean live with me, Levi."

"What?"

"Live with me. Move in with me. Stay. Don't go back to New York."

"Erwin …" Levi stood and carefully folded the shirt and draped it over the chair with Erwin's trousers.

"There's no guarantee I'll stay. New York is my home and I'm shit at relationships."

"I'll take you any way I can get you. Come live with me."

"You know I can't resist that ass. You know this means you're gonna be fucked hard on the regular?"

"God I hope so."

"OK, I guess we can try it."

They spent a lazy day just lounging in bed, eating take-out pizza and making out. That evening Levi was leaned on the Cadillac having a smoke and Erwin was keeping him company.

Levi cut his eyes at Erwin. He gestured at Dreamers. "Can I buy you a drink, handsome?"

Erwin smiled but hesitated, staring across the road as the chilly autumn wind drove up dust devils in the gravel parking lot making him squint.

"You're afraid of what people will say, aren't you?"

Erwin looked guiltily at him. "I guess I am. But I need to get over it. This is who I am."

Levi patted his arm. "Consider a few drinks liquid courage."

They held hands across the parking lot but self-conciously separated before they went in. Dreamers was just the same. It was almost time for the music to start and there was nowhere to sit.

Erwin suddenly gestured at the bar. "Mike!"

Mike turned and grinned at them. Nanaba waved from the seat next to him. Erwin and Levi made their way over to them (Erwin acting like an icebreaker ship, clearing the crowd so they could get through.)

Mike pounded Erwin on the shoulder. "What are you two doing here?"

"Just came for a drink."

"Levi! How's it hangin'?"

"It's not been hanging much, if you get my drift," Levi shot back, arching his eyebrows.

Mike roared with laughter and Nanaba giggled.

Erwin, bless him, who had not gotten the joke, looked around at them in confusion.

"I'll explain it to you later," Mike said in a stage whisper.

Levi and Erwin ordered drinks and one of the pool tables came free and Mike, who had signed up for next, stood.

"Levi, do you play pool?"

Levi, who had been playing since he could see over the table shrugged. "A little."

"Good."

As they were walking toward the table, a crowd of college kids in obnoxious orange paraphernalia usurped it. Mike was having none of it.

"I called next guys, sorry," he said, looking down on them from his great height. They seemed temporarily cowed then—there is strength in numbers—they decided to take their chance.

"Nah, we got here first fair and square, dude."

"There's a sign up sheet," Erwin pointed out mildly.

"It's our table," The lead boy said, chalking a cue stick.

Mike's hand closed on the stick. "I called next."

The boy tried unsuccessfully to yank the stick out of Mike's grasp then, frustrated, pushed him, the cue stick across Mike's broad chest. Mike barely moved but the gesture was an aggressive one and both sides bristled.

Erwin put a hand on Mike's shoulder. "Look, there's a sign up sheet and we were next. Go put your names down and you can have it when we're done," he said reasonably.

A second boy, fists clenched, bounced to the front. "Fuck you! You old dudes can't tell us what to do!"

Abruptly, Levi was there. "Take that back."

"Aww, lookit the shrimp! He's angry!"

"Please don't make me kick your sorry, skinny ass and make you look bad in front of your girl."

The three girls who were with the college boys were simpering and making eyes at the three older men.

"Fuck you too you runty old geezer!"

Levi began rolling up his shirtsleeves on his dress shirt, exposing his tattoos. For added effect he unbuttoned his collar, pulling it open and baring his sharp collarbones and his neck tattoo. The girls let out a collective sigh and Levi pushed his hair back with one hand and gave the trio a sultry look. He returned his attention to the kid. "Say that again, I dare you," he said and relaxed into a fighting stance, fists in front of his face.

The kid, to give him credit, hesitated. He was clearly torn. The first kid grabbed him by the arm. "Leave it, Hunter."

That seemed to make boy number two even more angry. "Shit on that!" he said shrilly and grabbed a pool cue swinging it at Levi.

The kid had grabbed the cue by it's heavier end and so, was swinging the skinny end which couldn't do much damage. Mike, realizing this, simply stepped between the boy and Levi and the cue slapped into his hand and Mike wrenched it away.

The altercation would've ended there but one of the other three boys, emboldened by the new use of weapons, picked up a cue and crashed it across Erwin's back. Unlike kid number two, this guy grabbed the skinny end and so had a pretty effective bludgeon. Erwin cried out and arched his body backwards as the stick broke across his back.

Levi moved at a shocking speed and suddenly kid number three was the recipient of an uppercut that almost lifted him off his feet. He crashed backwards onto the pool table like a carcass in an abattoir.

Dreamers had no bouncers (which was foolish but it saved money.) They counted on the older members of the crowd to keep the younger ones in line as almost everybody was from Ellway and knew each other. In a pinch they called on the bartenders and as a last resort, the security guard for the motel.

They had opted for the security guard as soon as the pool cues had been weaponized.

The security guard, a heavy set man about 35, came jogging up, wheezing.

"Dillon!" Mike said and shook his hand. Erwin, still wincing from his injury, just waved.

Mike, the security guard, and boy number one stepped away to talk quietly. Nanaba had herded the three girls out of the way when the testosterone started flying and they were all four in a group chatting and squealing and appeared to be talking about Nanaba's pregnancy.

Levi touched Erwin on his shoulder where he was bent over with his hands on his knees. "You OK?"

"I'm fine," Erwin grunted. "It just stings. Thank goodness I'm wearing my jacket."

"I'm so sorry. I should've beat him to a bloody pulp."

"Don't be ridiculous. You would have risked going to jail over nothing."

Erwin straightened back up, flexed his broad shoulders, and smiled at Levi. Levi surreptitiously ran his hand across the small of Erwin's back right above his belt.

"What's going on?"

It was Hange.

"Just a misunderstanding," said Levi.

"A misunderstanding involving broken pool cues? And your face is flushed. Have you been fighting again?"

Levi held up both hands "I promise it was one hit. Promise."

Mike and the security guard returned and the first kid rejoined his friends. Moblit shook the guards hand. "Officer."

Erwin smirked. It was a smooth move on Moblit's part, calling the security guard 'officer' as if he was actual police. The man swelled noticeably.

"Dillon here says that if we don't want to file charges then it's no harm no foul." Mike said. "Erwin, you're the one who got hurt, you decide."

"It's perfectly fine. Just a misunderstanding."

The security guard nodded. "You kids clear off!"

The college kids dispersed into the crowd grumbling.

"Well, I'm going back to the motel," Erwin said, "Sorry."

"Don't apologize dude! You got into a bar fight and got hit by a pool cue," Mike said

Erwin laughed, "You make it sound so exciting!"

Mike clapped Levi on the back almost knocking the wind out of him. "Are you staying to play or do you have to get back and take care of your sweet boo?" He then made obnoxious kissy noises until Nanaba punched him in the arm.

Levi snorted. "We'll let Hans and Mobes take our spots."

They stopped by the convenience store and bought alcohol and a small tube of painkilling disinfectant salve. Levi bought a huge bag of chips for Erwin and a honeybun for himself.

They crossed the road and Levi let them back into the room. "Come on my sweet boo."

Erwin went red to his hairline