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“Thanks.” How many times was he going to need to thank Atticus today?

Memories washed over him, of his friend helping him into the car, of Atticus holding Kai’s hair back as he heaved over the toilet bowl.

A more blurry memory of falling asleep with strong arms holding him tight, making him feel safe and secure.

That one he might have dreamed up. “I’m sorry about last night. ”

Atticus waved a hand, mouth full of food.

“S’fine. I’ve been way worse off than that before, it happens.

Happy to help.” Their eyes met, and Kai saw a flash of tenderness there, a reflection of the care that the other man had shown the night before.

It made his insides feel tight, and suddenly swallowing his mouthful of rice past the lump in his throat seemed nearly impossible.

Kai looked away first, focusing his stare down on his food.

They ate in silence for a few minutes before an extra-sharp throb in Kai’s head made him remember what he needed to ask.

“Do you have my wallet?”

Atticus nodded, shoveling in another mouthful before he walked to the other side of the kitchen.

He tossed the wallet toward Kai, who caught it against his chest with another mumbled thanks.

Digging into a specific pocket, Kai pulled out a single blister-pack.

Popping it open, he took the pill, swallowing it dry.

Atticus watched carefully, setting a glass of water in front of him.

“Sure you’re okay?”

Kai nodded. “If I don’t take it now I’ll be down with a migraine for the rest of the day.”

Atticus frowned. “Do you get them often?”

“Often enough.” Kai shrugged. “I’ve kind of learned to live with them.

I know my triggers. Know better than to dive headfirst into a hangover like that.

” That pulled a laugh from Atticus, full and bright.

Kai liked that he laughed about it, that he saw the humor there instead of showing pity or offering useless suggestions and remedies.

“Done?” Atticus gestured toward Kai’s mostly empty plate that he’d pushed away. He nodded.

“It was good,” Kai said.

“I’d hope so.” Atticus chuckled as he emptied their food remnants into the trash and rinsed the plates.

“Sammie and I spent enough time filling in at grandma’s place, I should be able to handle a light breakfast at this point.

” Another grin pointed in Kai’s direction, and fuck , it made Kai’s pulse speed up.

His body always reacted to Atticus, was always aware of the other man, always aware of how god damn attractive he was.

“Do you miss it?”

Atticus talked about his grandmother a lot.

She’d raised the twins by herself after their single mother had died of lung cancer.

They’d only been three years old at the time, couldn’t really remember her.

But the memories of their grandmother were plentiful, and Kai loved to hear Atticus go on about her.

Loved seeing the way his face lit up whenever he got to talk about Greta and the restaurant she’d opened and had kept alive for decades on her own.

“Sometimes, yeah.” Atticus leaned casually against the counter, arms crossed over his chest. “Not as much as I miss her. Seems silly to miss a place, a business, but me and Sammie spent almost as much time there as we did at home.”

Kai downed the rest of his water. “Sammie has her brewery now, you could hang out there.”

“First off,” Atticus said, pointing a finger. “It’s not her’s. And secondly, beer isn’t food. Third, every time I try to hang out there, I get put to work. Which is the only thing about it that’s the same as the restaurant.”

Kai laughed softly. “If you say so.” A silence filled the space between them, setting off an itch under Kai’s skin as Atticus watched him intently. It made him feel too warm, made it hard to ignore the way the muscles on Atticus' chest looked big with his arms crossed that way.

Just as Atticus opened his mouth to respond, a chime sounded from another room, drawing Kai’s thoughts away from dangerous territory.

“That’s the dryer,” Atticus said quickly, pointing toward the hallway. “It’s in there if you wanna change. That hoodie looks good on you, though.”

Kai flushed at the flirting. He should have been used to it by now.

Flirting came as naturally to Atticus as breathing.

But every now and then, it hit just a little different.

A little deeper, a little more sincere. He knew that Atticus still had some semblance of feelings for him, but they’d also agreed long ago to just be friends .

And they were just friends. They worked well as just friends. Atticus flirted with all of his friends, hell, Kai was pretty sure he’d even been flirting with Julian the evening before.

But there was always something there, something in his eyes when he focused his efforts solely on Kai.

Something sincere and soft, something that Kai didn’t really like to think about.

He left the kitchen, cheeks still warm, unwilling to confront the reason why his pulse was ticking just a little bit faster.

Atticus braced himself on the counter, blowing out a slow, quiet breath. He double checked to make sure Kai wasn’t quietly hovering in the doorway again before dropping his head into his hands and groaning.

He could do this. He could be normal. Kai was his friend, they’d been friends for a decently long time now. Atticus could definitely handle seeing him in that old Cats hoodie, hair down and a little mussed from sleep, eyes tired and heavy lidded.

Atticus couldn’t fucking do this.

He had to, though. The only other option was to just not have Kai in his life anymore, and well, that wasn’t an option. Not one that Atticus was willing to consider.

It was getting more and more difficult, though. Every time they were together, Atticus could feel himself falling a little more. He’d thought that after a few months it would have faded, but no. Apparently his heart was just as stubborn as he was.

He turned, padding across the kitchen to snatch up the television remote, turning the volume up in an attempt to drown out his horny thoughts.

He wasn’t really paying attention to what was playing, some new battle shonen anime he’d randomly clicked on.

Atticus just liked to have something on in the background, something to drown out the silence and make the space feel less empty.

His grandma had always, always had music playing, and Atticus had often thought that it helped to make their home feel…

well, more homey. Putting on whatever anime he was currently watching had turned into his way of carrying on the tradition, ever since she had passed peacefully in her sleep three years earlier.

His way of trying to make his new house feel more like the home he’d grown up in.

It worked, sometimes. Atticus dropped down onto the couch, half-heartedly watching the newest episode while scrolling on his phone.

It had been harder than he’d expected, moving out of the city.

He liked having more space to himself than he’d had sharing an apartment with two of his old teammates.

And he did actually like the quiet of the countryside, the way it reminded him a little of the good aspects of growing up in rural Illinois.

But every now and then… it was too quiet.

Every now and then Atticus felt too alone with his own thoughts, found himself missing the sounds of the city, the lifestyle he’d finally nailed into a coffin by moving away from it all.

Thus the constant need for background noise in the form of anime.

It was nice being closer to Kai’s place, though.

“I like this one.” Kai’s soft voice pulled Atticus out of his thoughts.

He sat down carefully at the other end of the couch as he nodded toward the tv, pulling his feet up to tuck himself into a ball, moving as though he was still in some amount of pain.

Atticus fought every urge to pull him close, to hold onto him the same way he had in the bathroom the night before, to provide comfort in even a small way.

That desire was made worse by the fact that Kai had chosen to keep the Cats hoodie on.

The deep maroon looked good against his pale skin, the gold lettering bringing out the gold flecks in his amber eyes.

Paired with his dark jeans from the night before…

“Never seen it,” Atticus said, flicking his eyes away from Kai and toward the television. He watched for a few seconds, unseeing, uncaring about who was about to demolish whom on the screen, all too aware of the man at the other end of the couch.

He couldn’t hold out for long, his gaze drawn back to Kai like the pull of gravity.

“You have plans today?”

Kai frowned, a common enough expression for him but not the one Atticus was expecting to see with that question.

“Yeah.” An exaggerated sigh fell from his lips, his cheeks puffing out. “I need to get home and pack.”

“Pack?” Atticus knew Kai took a lot of work trips. He was always attending some big shot industry event or another. Some kept him away for weeks at a time. A weight settled in his stomach at the idea of Kai being gone for that long once again.

“I had a bad leak in my bathroom,” Kai answered, his whiskey eyes finally shifting to pierce Atticus.

Eyes that were so wide and innocent and utterly deceptive.

Atticus knew what went on in the thoughts behind them, the constantly turning gears and a decided lack of innocence.

“Got under the flooring and everything. I was planning to remodel that portion of the house eventually anyway, so I decided to just go ahead with it. The contractor has people coming in tomorrow and said they should be able to finish in about a week. I’m staying at a hotel to keep out of their way. ”

“Oh,” Atticus said. His mind was already racing ahead, closing in on an idea before he’d even had a chance to fully grasp it. “Stay here instead. ”

Kai blinked at him.

Stay with me instead . It was definitely a terrible idea, maybe the worst idea Atticus had ever given voice to.

Just having Kai in his home for one morning had so far been nearly enough to send him into a fit.

A couple more days of this and he would probably be walking around sporting a constant boner.

But as Kai’s eyes narrowed a little, head tilting ever so slightly, the hornier thoughts subsided, giving way to the ones he tried a lot harder to ignore, to push down.

He wanted Kai here with him. He wanted Kai here with him always .

He wanted something that was so very unattainable, but what if he could have it for just a week?

A taste of a life he didn’t let himself picture, not since it had become clear that their one hookup was never going to turn into anything more.

It wasn’t a good idea to think about that night.

The one time they’d had sex. It was never a good idea to think about that, about the way it had shifted something for Atticus, made him feel something new and terrifying and wonderful, something he would never get enough of but would probably never get again.

Atticus' grip on his phone tightened as he pushed the memories down, the images of Kai in his lap, the phantom feeling of lips pressed to his own.

“I’d have to do a stream in a couple days,” Kai said slowly. “It’s already planned. I don’t want to be in your way.”

“Not a problem,” Atticus said, trying desperately to keep his voice even, to keep the excitement from bleeding into his words. “The guest room is all yours, wouldn’t be in my way at all!”

“You’re sure?”

“Absolutely.” Atticus held Kai’s stare, felt as though he were being dissected a little more with every passing second.

Could Kai see it, written clearly across his face?

Could he see the way everything hinged on his answer?

Atticus suddenly wished he’d been feeling a little less flirtatious earlier and had put a shirt on.

He was pretty sure that if another few moments slipped by with Kai looking at him that intensely then his entire body was going to turn red from the heat building in him.

“Okay,” Kai finally said, and Atticus barely held himself back from releasing a sigh of relief. “Would you mind taking me to get my car? Did you have plans today?”

“Nope!” Atticus failed at keeping the cheer from his voice, failed at holding back the smile that was spreading across his face.

He hopped up from the couch. “Well, yes. Practice in a couple hours. And I was going to touch up my roots.” He ran a hand through his hair, shifting the blonde strands away from his forehead.

“Sammie usually helps me out because I’m shit at getting the bleach on even, but she’s been too busy to come over.

Lemme go put some more clothes on, we can go in just a few. ”

He hurried out of the room, not waiting for another response.

Once in the safety of his own bedroom, Atticus pumped his fist in front of his chest, biting his lip to hold back a laugh.

He knew he was a dork, knew that Kai would roll his eyes if he saw Atticus this excited at the prospect of what was essentially a sleepover.

He hurried to put on a shirt, pushing down any and all negative thoughts as he pulled the fabric over his head.

Sure, it was risky. Sure, Atticus felt some sort of way toward Kai that was definitely not reciprocated.

Which had been made quite evident the evening before, when the fact that Kai was clearly still hung up on his ex had been on full display for everyone to see.

A display that Atticus got to witness firsthand.

But how much could go wrong in a week? It wasn’t like Atticus wouldn’t be able to control himself, as if being around Kai all day every day would be more than he could handle.

It would be fine. It would be no different than the other times they’d hung out together over the last six months. Play some games, watch a movie or two. Just two dudes being buddies.

For seven days straight.

Atticus walked back into the living room, keys dangling from his hand. He grinned when Kai looked up at the sound, eyes wide, expression one of surprise. It made Atticus' heart trip a little. Especially when Kai smiled softly back at him.

“Let’s go!”