Josh woke to a distantly familiar smell and a warm blanket where his chilly roommate had been earlier. Opening his eyes, he saw Aidan sitting cross-legged on the floor with a steaming bowl of soup.
"Morning, sunshine," Aidan greeted his friend with a wide grin. It was a strange choice of words, both of them knew it, but its oddity wasn't acknowledged. "I made you some soup."
Josh took in a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. "What time is it?"
"Eight," Aidan began and Josh nodded, "in the morning." Josh got a really confused look on his face and Aidan felt the need to continue speaking. "You slept all day yesterday. How do you feel?"
"Better... ish." Josh was still fatigued and he was a little nauseous, but the fever was gone for the most part and he could sit up. "It's a good thing we took two days off, huh?"
"Yeah. Soup?" He pushed the bowl forward as an offering. Pulling himself up against the headboard of the bed, Josh accepted the warm bowl and began to eat.
"You know," he said between slurps, "I'm fine now. You can go out and do stuff if you want. It is your day off."
"Nah. I don't have anything else to do today." There was a pause where Josh didn't really know what to say and Aidan just looked at him adoringly. "So... what do you want to do today?"
"I'll probably just watch some TV and try to recuperate." Josh finished the bowl of soup and set it on the night stand. He shifted his weight and pulled the quilt up around his shoulders, preparing to get up.
"Are you sure you're ready to stand?" Aidan said, concerned.
"Yeah." Josh pushed himself up off the bed with a little too much speed and wavered greatly on his feet. Aidan swiftly rose and caught him, steadying him by pulling their bodies close together. "Thanks..."Josh breathed, not moving a muscle.
Aidan stared straight into Josh's eyes for some time, eventually shaking his head to bring himself back into reality. "Yeah." He slowly let Josh go, making sure he could stand on his own.
"Downstairs, then?" Josh asks, and Aidan nods. Josh walks ahead and Aidan follows, making sure that his friend doesn't fall.
Sally quietly materialized behind Aidan and whispered elatedly into his ear, "Aren't you excited? You get a whole other day with your 'bf'."
Aidan turned to glare at her and, just at that moment, Josh tripped over a part of the blanket dragging on the floor and fell, heading straight for the stairs. Aidan heard a small yelp escape from the man and moved so quickly that time seemed only to go at half speed.
With a sudden movement at the base of the stairwell, Aidan swept Josh up and spun him around without the werewolf ever having touched the ground. "Are you okay?" Aidan was breathing heavily and staring intently into Josh's shocked eyes.
After a moment used to compose himself and get over the fact that Aidan was gripping him unbelievably tight, Josh responded softly, "Yeah, I-I'm fine." Aidan relaxed and absentmindedly stroked Josh's messy hair, smiling in relief.
"Aidan?" Josh asked, not entirely sure he wanted to, "Could you maybe, you know... let me go?"
"Oh," Aidan suddenly realized he was petting Josh's hair. "Oh! Sorry!" He quickly pulled away and let Josh pull himself up off the landing.
Sally popped in, clearly alarmed. "Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah," Aidan responded. "We're fine."
"You know," Josh said, trying to make light of the whole situation, "we should really put like a neon sign next to those stairs so people stop falling down them."
Sally and Aidan both gave him a look that said 'too far', but then they looked at each other, realized that it was Josh they were dealing with, and gave a little laugh.
Aidan walked over to the TV and pulled out a few of Josh's DVDs. "What do you want to watch?"
Josh walked over slowly, still basking in the weirdness of everything that just happened. "I don't know. Just pick something."
"How about this, Creature from the Black Lagoon?"
Josh's eyes grew huge and he moved as quickly as he could to try to grab the movie from Aidan's hands. Of course, he failed. "Nope! Pick another one." Aidan smirked and gave Josh a look of intrigue. "Please?"
"What's so bad about this movie? I've seen it before, it's not that terrible."
"No, come on. Just pick another one."
"Why? Are you afraid of the Creature?"
"No! Aidan, just give me the movie." Josh's face was getting desperate and Aidan could tell that it would escalate in a way he didn't want if he pushed this; so, he let it go and gave Josh the movie.
"Okay, what about Star Wars?"
Josh was still fumbling to push the other movie well under the couch cushions. "Which one?"
"A New Hope."
"Sure." Aidan slid the disc into the DVD player on the front of the TV. Josh was curled up on the long couch beneath his blanket. Aidan turned from the TV and stood there, just fidgeting with the DVD case for a minute and thinking about his what-ifs again. Josh gave him a strange look, patted the seat next to him, and asked, slightly laughing at the strangeness, "Are you going to sit?"
"Huh?" Aidan snapped back to reality. "Oh, yeah." Aidan walked over to the couch and plopped down next to Josh, leaving only about an inch of space between them on the four-person couch. It was completely comfortable; until Josh shifted and their bodies brushed together.
Josh inhaled quickly and spoke, "You want some popcorn? Of course you don't. Ha-ha, what was I thinking? I'm going to get some popcorn." Josh stood and practically ran to the kitchen with his head down. He grabbed a bag of popcorn from one of the cabinets and put it in the microwave. Grabbing a large bowl from another cupboard, Josh noticed the flowers sitting on the counter. He knew he didn't buy them and Sally couldn't touch anything; so that left Aidan. But Aidan doesn't like flowers. So how did they get there?
The microwave timer went off and Josh pulled out the movie snack. Carrying the large bowl out to the living room, he asked, "Where did the flowers come from?"
Sally, now sitting on the far end of the couch, gave Aidan a look of disapproval, knowing he was going to lie. "I... uh... I got them from a neighbor this morning when I was taking out the trash." Sally rolled her eyes and Aidan glared at her.
"Oh. That's nice. Who gave them to you?" Josh wasn't all that intrigued - he figured it was just some girl in the neighborhood that Aidan had flirted with - but the triumphant look on Sally's face following his question tipped him off to the fact that something was up.
"It was Mrs. Flannigan." Aidan said, lying much better this time.
"That little, old lady from across the street? Well that was nice. Was there some reason she gave them to you?" Josh had no clue what was going on, but he figured he may as well keep asking questions because Sally's devious smile was growing as he continued to talk.
"Nope." Aidan was growing tired of the lying, but he was getting smoother. Hopefully he could cover his tracks effectively. "She was just cutting some to put inside and when I told her you were sick she gave me some flowers to help you feel better."
The whole discussion started to seem more than a little worthless, so Josh let it go. "That's sweet of her." Josh put on his best British accent - which wasn't all that good - and asked, "Shall we start the movie, sir?"
Aidan smirked, relieved he had gotten away with the flower incident, and, in a much better accent than Josh, he declared, "Quite so, good chap. Let's begin." The two laughed softly at their small charade and Aidan hit play on the remote.
Sally squealed, "Oh, you guys, it has been forever since I saw this movie!" Aidan gave her a look and it took her a moment to get it. He was asking her to leave, politely. "But I didn't really like it that much, so... I'm just going to go see Danny. Bye!" She misted out of the room, leaving the pair alone for their last day off together.
The opening credits rolled through and Josh stared at them intently, reading every word. Aidan stared at Josh intently, watching his mouth form every word that appeared on the screen. After all of the words had passed, Josh turned toward his friend and Aidan's head snapped up, meeting Josh's eyes and smiling.
"You know," Josh started, "the monsters in these movies make us look normal." Josh laughed, and Aidan followed suit.
"I think we look pretty normal anyways." Aidan responded, resting his arm on the back of the sofa and turning his whole body toward the man curled up beside him.
Josh munched on his popcorn and they watched the movie, laughing at every little joke or extra dramatic situation. Josh finished the snack and Aidan placed the bowl on the coffee table so Josh didn't have to move from his spot under the quilt on the couch.
Josh let out a loud sneeze which echoed off all the walls in the house. Aidan looked at him with a worried expression. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Do you need some more medicine?"
"No, Aidan, really. I'm fine." But he was already gone, up the stairs to get the medicine. Just as Aidan disappeared up the staircase, a knock came at the door. Josh rose slowly to his feet and walked over to answer it.
"Oh. Hey, Jesse." Aidan could hear Josh talking from upstairs and he had a minor panic attack. "What's up?"
"I just wanted to stop by and see... How are you feeling?"
"I'm good... Why?" Aidan was at the bottom of the stairs now, listening closely to the conversation. He couldn't quite bring himself to stop it, knowing it would give him away.
"Well, when I was here yesterday -"
Josh cut him off, "You were here yesterday?"
"Yeah... Aidan told me you were sick. Did you get my flowers?"
"No-" Josh realized that was where the flowers in the kitchen were from and now he understood why Sally was so excited when he was asking Aidan those questions, "I mean yeah. I got them. There in the kitchen. Thanks."
"So... ?" Jesse was asking Josh a question that Josh didn't even really understand the context of.
"So... What?"
"What do you say? To my offer?"
"What offer?" Josh was getting more and more confused as the conversation went on.
"My offer to take you to a movie. What do you say?"
"Oh... Oh! You mean... like a date?" Josh was shocked. He really shouldn't have been; he had seen the way Jesse was looking at him during the neighborhood watch party and his flirting was as smooth as sandpaper.
"Well, yeah. What do you think? Go with me?"
"Sorry, Jesse... I can't."
"Oh..." Jesse's face dropped. "Okay. I understand." There was a substantial awkward silence between the two. "Just tell me one thing."
"Okay. What?"
"What's the deal with you and Aidan?"
"What do you mean?" Josh was confused again.
"Well... Are you two together, or what?"
"Together as in... ?" Josh crossed his fingers in the childish sign for a relationship. Jesse nodded his head and Aidan's ears perked behind the wall.
"No… No?" Josh wanted to state it as a fact, but he couldn't help but wonder.
"Well, it's just that yesterday - when I was over here, trying to ask you out - he got really intense and kind of scary. Like, possessive, you know?"
"What? Seriously?"
"Yeah. I mean, I almost ran away after I knocked just now because I thought if he answered again he might just rip my throat out."
Josh reveled in the new information. Aidan was possessive of him. Did that mean something? Did that mean Aidan felt something like what Josh was feeling?
"Anyways, if there's nothing between you two, why won't you go out with me?"
It was a little offensive to Josh that Jesse didn't seem to think that him being straight was not a possible reason for not wanting to go out with another man. But he decided to disregard that point in favor of the other, more prominent thought in his mind. "Honestly? If there is something there, I want to be open for it."
"Okay. I get that. But, if you ever get tired of wondering and waiting around, give me a call." Jesse smiled and walked away, leaving Josh standing at the door with so many questions.
Aidan walked around the corner with a spoon full of medicine. "Who was that?" he asked innocently.
"Huh? Oh, no one. Medicine?" Josh walked over and, instead of taking the spoon, he just opened his mouth and let Aidan feed it to him. "Thanks. Back to the movie?"
"Yeah." They walked back over and flopped down on the couch. This time, Josh was staring at Aidan while he watched the movie. Aidan felt the heat of his friend's gaze and turned to meet it. "What?"
"I was just thinking..." Josh wasn't sure how to approach the subject. Aidan gave him a questioning look, but he couldn't speak.
They stared at each other, trying to figure out who should speak first. Aidan took mercy on his friend and broke the silence. "Are you trying to ask me something?"
"Um... No... Are you trying to ask me something?"
"I'm just asking you if you want to ask me something."
"Oh... well... that's what I was going to ask you too, so... yeah..." A long, awkward silence ensued and just as they prepared to break eye contact, someone started yelling.
"Oh for God's sake you two!" Sally had been watching and she decided she'd had enough of their ridiculous back and forth. "Josh: Aidan likes you and he scared Jesse away yesterday because he wants you all for himself. Aidan: Josh likes you back but he thinks you're too much of a ladies' vamp to ever like a scruffy little werewolf like him. Now, both of you quit being so stupid and just ask each other out!" Sally evaporated out of the room, her command echoing in the charged air.
Both of their eyes were wide and neither one of them shifted their gaze away from the spot where Sally had been. They were afraid to look at each other after all their dirty laundry and insecurities had been aired by their meddling ghost.
"So..." Josh said, realizing they couldn't stay silent forever. "Is that true? Do you like me?"
"Of course I like you."
"You know what I mean. Do you like me?"
"Do you like me?"
"That's not fair. I asked you first."
"I asked you second. So what?"
"Fine. Aidan," he looked straight into his friend's eyes, "I like you."
Aidan took a deep breath and smiled. "I know." Josh scoffed and broke eye contact at the remark. Aidan pulled his friend's face back to him. "I'm pretty sure I don't like you..." Josh got really confused for a second and Aidan leaned in so there was less than an inch between them. "But I do think… I love you."