Page 60 of Game Misconduct

“What?” Leif asked, letting go and sitting back again. “What do you mean what the fuck?”

“I mean, I don’t just want you for your dick or, like … your hands or mouth.”

“No?” Leif asked a little warily.

“No! Come on, I’ve been trying to make friends with you since we were sixteen and playing for the Belmont Furies.”

“Oh.” Leif frowned at him. “Really?”

Tanner smacked his forehead. “Yes! Oh my God, you think I’m dumb, but you are dense AF, dude.”

Leif rolled his eyes. “So, what? You just want to hang out tonight then? Shouldn’t you be out partying with your team or whatever?”

That came out a little snider than he planned because that shit still hurt. Looking at the chirp now, he could see how Tanner had meant it and that it had just landed horribly. He was pretty much over it.

But the loss … yeah, that was going to sting for a while.

“I did party with them for a bit,” Tanner admitted. “But um, I wanted to come apologize to you more.”

“Really?” Leif blinked. That seemed very un-Tanner-like.

“Really. So c’mon. Let’s hug it out and shit now.”

Leif snorted at Tanner’s ridiculousness but he held out his arms with a sigh anyway. Tanner latched his arms around Leif’s waist, then half stood before letting himself fall forward against Leif.

With no way to brace himself, he fell onto the bed, Tanner landing heavily on top of him.

They lay there for a few minutes with Tanner’s cheek pressed to Leif’s chest, his ribs pressed against his inner thighs.

Leif smiled up at the ceiling. Tanner was a bundle of annoyances wrapped in curly hair and a smile, but he was also growing on Leif.

“Yeah. That’s better,” Tanner said after a bit.

“Good, because this is uncomfortable as fuck,” Leif groused.

He shoved Tanner off him, and he fell onto the bed beside Leif, nearly sliding off the corner of the mattress before he caught himself.

“So, we’ve hugged it out,” Leif said, shifting to one side so Tanner could lie next to him without danger of falling onto the floor. “Now what?”

“Dude, do you trust me?”

“Not really,” Leif said honestly.

At this point, did he think Tanner would intentionally do something terrible to him? Probably not. But the things he could doaccidentallyweren’t worth contemplating.

“Okay, well,rude, but do you trust me enough to, like … plan out a chill evening with no sex for us?”

“I guess,” Leif said warily.

“Cool.” Tanner bounced to his feet. “I’m gonna need to go grab some stuff and then I’ll be right back. Change into your pajamas.”

He was gone without another word, and the door was still vibrating in its frame when Leif sat up.

“What the fuck?” he muttered under his breath.

But he was curious now, so he changed into pajamas, put away his dirty clothing, hung up what he’d re-wear, then turned on his phone and let it boot up. He had a ridiculous number of notifications and he stared at them, uninterested, while he waited for Tanner to return.

Eventually, he turned his screen off and tossed the phone aside. Nope. Not tonight. He felt better but he still had no desire to answer any of the messages he’d gotten after the game yet.