Another chapter, eyyyy.

####

Being in love always made you do incredibly inane things. Eddie knew that from experience. Even then, he still found himself staring at his cell phone expectantly. A mental chant of 'Text me, text me, text me!' rattling through his mind as he squirmed in his seat. He'd regret all the squirming later but he did not care right now.

His injury made it impossible to really be active, which left him with little to do beyond lay around and text Sasha. The damage at Motor Forge meant everyone was stuck in limbo. Oz had called everyone reporting the store was going to need more repairs than originally expected. Eddie could only guess that came hand in hand with whatever disagreement Oz had with those police officers. Eddie really doubted that went particularly well.

Oz had at least been nice enough to send them checks covering how much they worked. It meant he wasn't going to be completely penniless for the next month.

The sound of Sasha's text tone yanked the roadie from his thoughts. "Hell yeah." He murmured, more than happy to accept the distraction. The past two weeks had been more than fun with this whole dating thing. His ribs were going to be healed up soon enough. Just two more weeks, he could survive that. Maybe by then he could get a side job? He'd have to snatch a newspaper from a neighbor.

Time for some lunch with Sasha.

##

"I'm rather shocked you let me buy lunch."

Eddie gave what he could of a wave, mid-bite in a giant cheeseburger. He held up a finger as he chewed, trying to swallow before he spoke. "I'm a little- low now, so I'm not gonna look a gift horse in a mouth."

A flicker of something passed across Sasha's features, something Eddie couldn't quite understand. Especially since it was gone as quickly as it appeared. "Ah- right, your store is still under construction?" The German man set his own food down on the plate on the table between them.

"Yeah, Oz is sending us a paycheck for what hours we did work before, so I'll have some scratch." He smiled back at Sasha, shifting so he could play foostie with the other man. "I'll cover lunch next time, yeah?"

"Don't worry about it." He returned the foot nudge Eddie gave him as he spoke. Eddie grinned a little back, clearly happy to just play foostie with the smaller man, regardless of the two being in a crowded restaurant.

###

"I guess all it took was a dramatic injury for you to get a boyfriend." Ophelia's comment warranted a snort from Eddie, who peered up from the magazine in his grasp. "Did he really sweep you up into his arms?"

Eddie rolled his eyes, "I fell and he caught me. There was no sweepin' me up."

"You were swept up in his big strong arms." She cooed back, clasping her hands under her chin, fluttering her lashes. Eddie had to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. He leaned back a little watching her flounce about like some kind of deranged disney princess. All he could do was shake his head.

"Oh shut up."

Ophelia grinned back at him, moving to flop down next to Eddie on the couch. "Look, I'm happy for you, you dork."

"Uh huh. Happy to tease me." He flipped the magazine page, his gaze dropping back down to idly skim. Well, until Ophelia grabbed it out of his grip. Whatever protests rose at the magazine being taken died on his lips at the sight of her expression.

"I'm being serious, here." Her grin had died off, replaced with a frown. "You've been… alone for too long." Eddie hadn't seen her this serious in a long time. It made his stomach lurch uncomfortably.

He managed an awkward shrug, avoiding her gaze for a moment. Eddie didn't even want to talk about this. "Datin' ain't end all be all, Ophs."

Her fingers crunched the magazine in her grasp. "Doesn't mean I didn't worry. After everything that happened."

"Its ancient history." He breathed out, managing a smile back. It felt fake and stupid, but he didn't want to open this shit up again. "What happened is… in the past."

"Yeah." She dropped the magazine back in his lap almost too carelessly, avoiding his gaze now. "It is."

###

"I still can't believe you live here."

"S'home sweet home." Eddie supplied helpfully from his spot on the ratty couch he called his own, smiling as he watched Sasha investigate everything. Sasha had been over a few times the past few weeks, but usually they got distracted with making out. His injured ribs meant they had to take it easy on dates. Not to mention the fact bringing up his money issue with Sasha had caused some concern from the German man.

"It is all very neat here, but… cheap looking." He tapped his knuckles against the wall, frowning when someone knocked back. "…How thin are these walls?"

"Pretty thin."

A neighbor yelling echoed a few doors down, followed by a TV blaring to life as if to prove Eddie's point. The couple in the apartment closest to them started their usual round of arguing about the other neighbor watching TV so loudly. Sasha just stared at the wall disapprovingly taking a slow step back as the noise echoed around them.

"I can't believe you live here." Sasha repeated, moving to the couch to join the larger man. He tucked himself close, "You should move somewhere nicer."

"That'd be nice, but I'm kinda out of a job for now." Eddie gave what he could of a shrug, it was a mixed gesture considering he had Sasha pressed against him and slowly healing roughed up ribs. "I'll stick with this, it's familiar, my best friend lives in the buildin' and a nice 7-11 is nearby."

"A nice 7-11…?"

"They like got all the good shit." Weed, they had a lot of weed. The night shift always had some kind of deal going on.

Sasha sighed gently at that, "I sincerely hope you're speaking of sluprree flavors opposed to drugs."

"Yes." No, he he wasn't. Not at all. "Who doesn't love a slurrpee?"

"You're terrible and lying." Though Sasha didn't seem intent on prying the truth from Eddie, simply shifting to kiss the other man. The roadie had no problem with this, cupping Sasha's cheek with his hand as they deepened the kiss.

"Yet, you're kissin' me?" He teased when they broke apart. "You like it, huh?"

Sasha rolled his eyes exaggeratedly leaning back in to kiss Eddie again and shut him up. The making out was only interrupted by a crash a few apartments over. Sasha jerked up staring at the wall while Eddie blinked blearily at the kiss ending.

"What was that?"

"Just Freddie, he's the guy in D11. Chucks his furniture around sometimes."

"Is this a normal occurrence?" Sasha just stared at the wall and cut his glance back to Eddie, wondering how the other man could be so blasé.

"When he's drunk, yeah. He's drunk like every day after work."

Sasha stared at his boyfriend for a long moment before speaking. "You really need to move."

"Eh. I'm fine here."

###

"…Please tell me you have running water."

Eddie was half asleep on his couch when Sasha's very concerned voice spoke up. One minute Sasha had come over for take out, they made out and he kind of fell asleep during a bad horror movie. "Wha?"

"Eddie."

"Yeah, course I got water, geeze." He managed tiredly and somewhat defensively back. Eddie rubbed at his eyes blearily. He peered at Sasha from his slumped position on the couch. "The pipes are probably being stupid, just smack the faucet a little."

"Smack the faucet?"

"It gets all…. sassy sometimes. Gotta tap it a little." He answered with a wave of his hand already starting to doze off again. Eddie was pretty sure he covered that bill, so there was no problem there.

Sasha just stared at him from behind his sunglasses for a long moment before turning back in the direction the kitchen. Eddie could hear a few taps, followed by the water running.

"Told ya, sassy faucet." He called back, squishing his cheek against the couch. It took him a moment to realize Sasha had actually paused the movie. The pizza had been put away to some extent and from the sounds of it the dishes were being washed.

He really was dating someone way out of his league, wasn't he?

###

Sasha rolled the pen across his knuckles idly as he skimmed over the report glowing back at him from his laptop screen. A stack of notes lay spread across his desk, occasionally his pen would float from his knuckles to scratch out a comment. The case was nearly done by this point, Sasha merely wanted to review it for any discrepancies.

Normally he would want complete silence to work comfortably, but the low content breathing from across the room was… rather nice. He glanced behind himself at the larger man sleeping in his bed. The blankets were pulled haphazardly over the roadie, his head lulled against a pillow and hand reaching out for where Sasha had been earlier. They had a rather simple date and come back to Sasha's apartment to relax. At this point Sasha was fairly certain a good portion of Eddie's clothing had ended up here.

A smile curled across his lips as he watched Eddie for a moment, tracing his gaze across the other man's sleep stilled features. He reluctantly peeked back at his laptop, hesitating before closing it. The pen levitated back to its usual spot as Sasha rose from his office chair, walking back to the bed.

He comfortably settled back down, rolling back into his boyfriend's grip. Even in sleep, Eddie curled his arms around Sasha, holding the german man close.

'This is nice. I could get used to this.' He settled his forehead against Eddie's chest, smiling somewhat at the larger man's occasional snore. It was kind of endearing.

'We haven't dated all that long yet, two months at most, but…' He glanced up through his bangs at Eddie,'I wouldn't mind him living with me. Especially given his terrible apartment situation now.'

His eyes slid shut as he relaxed, 'Maybe I'll ask him tomorrow.'