Page 76 of Bro Code

Sighing, he paused and turned with his shoulder against the door. Louis was coming down the tunnel with his backpack over his shoulder. He reached Riley and stopped with a grim smile.

“I don’t wanna talk about it,” said Riley.

“I assume that’s why you ignored all my texts.” Louis’ smile turned wily. “I wasn’t really looking for a conversation, anyway…”

Riley pushed back the door with his shoulder to let Louis through. “I’m not sure I have it in me for an enthusiastic fuck.”

“That’s okay,” said Louis as he stepped past, his shoulder brushing Riley’s chest. “I was hoping maybe you’d just let me do something nice for you.”

“Something nice?” Riley let the door close behind him.

Louis lifted his shoulder, walking beside Riley with his eyes on the ground. “Because you’ve had a really shitty week.”

Riley’s chest warmed. He pressed his lips together against a smile, then said, “What about you? How was your week?”

“Oh…” Louis sighed, sounding exhausted. “Fine.”

“Sounds like maybe you need someone to do something nice for you.”

He laughed. “Uh huh.”

They walked a few paces in silence. Riley carefully said, “How’s your mom? You haven’t really told me anything about your trip.”

“She’s fine,” said Louis. “Apart from the terminal cancer, obviously.”

Riley almost barked a laugh, but it got stuck somewhere and wouldn’t come out. Was he supposed to laugh? Was he allowed to laugh? He peeked at Louis. He wanted to say something like, I’m here if you need anything, or Let me know what I can do, but it sounded so cliche and soulless. How did you actually do anything helpful for someone going through something like that?

When they came to his car, he stopped and turned to Louis. “Just so you know: I’m here if you need anything. Like, if you wanna talk about anything, or–”

“I know.” Louis smiled. “Thanks. I don’t. Not right now.”

Riley nodded. “Alright. We don’t have to talk. But can I do something nice for you?”

Louis’ eyebrow arched. He leaned his shoulder against the car, folding his arms. “Such as what?”

“Such as I don’t know. But I bet we can figure something out.”

He reached for the door handle, and Louis stopped him. He took Riley’s hand, and linked their fingers, clasping Riley’s hand tight in his and stepping right up to him. He held their hands to his chest as he studied Riley’s face a moment, then kissed him on the knuckles.

“Maybe we could both do something nice,” he said. “For each other.”

They went to a late dinner at a new pizza place Louis knew about across town, then back to Louis’ apartment. Riley had never been there before, and it felt like a “step”. He felt like he should have weird feelings about that, but actually…it just felt nice.

He was a little mad that Louis had insisted on pizza for dinner – he wanted to take him somewhere fancy and spend lots of money on wine and oysters and shit like that. But Louis wanted pizza. And he just wanted to give Louis what he wanted.

The apartment was nice – second floor of a funky old brick building with a spiral staircase leading straight up to the front door from the street. Louis called it a “classic Montreal plex”. The iron staircase was painted blue to match the ornate brickwork around the windows, and blue flowers had been planted in planter boxes outside the front door. Very put together. Very Louis.

Inside it was long and narrow – Louis led him down a corridor past a big double living room on the left and bedroom on the right, to a kitchen in the back. The old brickwork and ceiling beams had been maintained, but everything beyond that was sleek and modern. There were cactuses and hanging planters everywhere. Books and wood furniture that looked like it had been sourced from various thrift shops.

“This is nice,” said Riley, looking around as Louis put the leftover pizza box in the fridge.

“Thanks.” Louis smiled. “Yeah, I like it.”

It was the first time Riley had seen a living spot in Montreal beyond the hotel, and he didn’t hate it. He’d been putting off finding his own place, maybe because doing that would feel like admitting that this was a permanent change. That this was his team now, and his city, and his home. He still wasn’t quite ready to admit that.

Could he see himself living somewhere like this? Maybe.

“I’m surprised you wanted to come somewhere so private.” Riley smirked, watching Louis wash his hands at the sink. “Who’s even gonna see us in here?”