That afternoon wasn't exactly what Theo expected. His mystery customer, Josh, was... more tall, dark and handsome than Theo was expecting. It still surprised Theo, even wrapped in his arms hours later.

"That was... wow... I almost don't want you to have to pay for it." Theo joked. Well. Half-joked. He might consider letting him go free. He'd fantasized about the times they spent together even without seeing his face. Now he has a beautiful face and a name to put to this epic lover. So gentle and rough at the same time. It was amazing.

"It's ok. I'm gonna pay for it, Theo. Besides, you earned it." Josh said with a wink before he leaned over to kiss Theo with a kiss that made his body so weak. Just a kiss. Man, he was screwed. The guy even knew his real name wasn't in fact Tyler.

"So. What made you decide to trust me this time? He said very stupidly..." Theo asked before he thought about the possible answers.

"Well we've spent all this time together. I thought it might be good to know who you were spending time with." Josh said as he curled Theo into his arms.

"Yeah..." Theo thought about that. He also thought about the fact that they were cuddling after Josh was paying for sex. It wasn't like they were dating. This was a business transaction. He was going to leave and he would possibly never see Josh again.

"Mm? What's on your mind?"

"Nothing. Just. Feels nice. Aftercare and all. I've never really had that."

"That must suck doing this."

"Yeah, but... I've come to expect it. Appreciate it, really. Some people get clingy." Theo bumped his shoulder playfully.

"Well. I could leave" Josh joked back just as playfully "but then I couldn't do this" he said as he kissed Theo on his chest, "and this" he said as he kissed all the way up his neck. "I wouldn't be able to do this either" Josh said as he got up to straddle Theo. He started grinding him and then he leaned down to plant a passionate kiss on Theo's lips.

"Mmh. I see your point, but I can't actually go again. There's not enough Gatorade in the world" Theo said as he kissed him again. "Plus I actually do have to leave at some point. I actually did cancel plans for you" he laughed.

"Oh please. You didn't have plans." Josh laughed and it was low and sensual and beautiful. Theo realized in that moment that he was Vivian Ward and Josh was Edward.

"Honey! I'm home!" Theo shouted as he walked in the door. He didn't hear or see Liam so he put his things down. He was going to take a shower and rinse the day off him. He went to his bedroom and when he opened the door he was met with a completely bare-assed Liam.

"Don't you knock?!"

"This is MY house!"

"You knew I was here!"

"You didn't answer!" Theo said exasperated. Then realization hit him. "Liam... why are you naked in my room?"

"Oh. Yeah. I took a shower."

"And you're...?"

"Air drying."

"Oh my god"

"I'm kidding. I didn't think you wanted me to use your clothes so I was waiting on mine to wash and dry."

"You use my clothes all the time!"

"Yeah but you weren't here to give me permission..."

Theo looked at Liam and tried to suppress a laugh. It was actually kind of adorable how childlike Liam could be sometimes. Theo was granting him unlimited access to his home, telling him things that even his... well, family, didn't even know... and Liam still needs permission to not be in the nude after his shower.

Nude.

Liam is still naked...

"Umm... Liam... grab a pair of sweatpants... because I can see all your... bells and whistles." Theo said as he looked promptly at the ceiling, at least trying to give Liam the illusion of privacy.

"Oh right."

Liam seemed, at least in the time Theo had known him, strangely comfortable with his body. It was surprising, since he was so vulnerable about everything else.

"I honestly couldn't do that."

"Do what?"

"Be naked in someone's house for that long."

"Theo, you are a sex worker and a stripper. How is that even possible?"

"You can still be ashamed and uncomfortable with your body. Especially, even. My body is always

on display. It's nice to know people want it in a sense, but... thinking about some of the types of people..."

"So why do you do it?" Liam said, almost... whispering? He didn't still judge Theo did he?

"Look I already told you, I don't have to like it to be good at it. I'm good enough at it to pay my bills and afford what I need to get by. If you still judge me-"

"I'm not!" Liam said a little too loudly, he realized. "Look, I'm not judging you. I just... I see how hard it is for you... but I'm your friend and I'll support you no matter what."

Support. Theo hadn't had that for a long time. He really believed Liam had even become his strongest support system as of late as well. Corey's friendship wasn't even like this.

"So-" Liam broke Theo out of his momentary musing, "how did it go with ya man? He everything you hoped for?"

"Oh he was soo good and he was so much more attractive than I even imagined. I honestly could fall in love under regular circumstances" Theo laughed.

Liam, however, did not. Not a real laugh. It was a dry and cracked laugh. Fake. Yet he still asked, "Oh really? And what are normal circumstances, really?"

"Normal... like not... him paying for sex? I guess? I don't know."

"Exactly. There is nothing in life normal. Especially about meeting people. He may even feel the same about... this particular circumstance?" Liam tried to choke that out as calmly and swiftly, without thinking about it, as he possibly could... but it kind of felt like he was getting rejected. Theo had no idea of his crush, but Liam still felt like he was going to throw up.

"Yeah right. And what? I'm not gonna go through what I went through with Brett. Just because he knows doesn't mean he wouldn't be the same way if we were in a relationship."

They ordered pizza for dinner and they discussed the whole Josh thing further, eventually agreeing to disagree. Josh wasn't his rich man to save him from a life on the streets and Theo accepted that.

"Hey. Can I stay the night again?"

"Well that was out of nowhere but sure?"

"I just... I didn't get to even hang out with you after... last night..." Liam said thoughtfully. He really wanted to make sure that Theo was ok after letting Liam in and esppecially now after he found out about Josh. He needed to know how Theo was handling that too.

"Oh? Did you want me to spoon you last night?" Theo smirked.

"Well. You kinda did."

"What do you mean?" Theo knew he woke up cuddling Liam but he didn't know Liam knew about it.

"So... You fell asleep on me last night... and you kinda... clung to me like a koala bear." Liam said not sheepish and not blushing. Definitely not.

"Oh. Well. I'm sorry...? Or you're welcome" Theo laughed.

"Right. Thanks. All I wanna do is cuddle you while sleeping in a puddle of your drool. It's extremely hot in more ways than one." Liam said sounding like a nineties sitcom. It didn't sound as lame in his head.

"Anyway. Of course you can sleep over. It's... probably gonna be a rough night though."

"What do you mean?"

"Nightmares."