Page 95 of Bro Code

“Yeah,” he said. “Let’s do it.”

When they hung up he sat watching the lobby door for a long time. Then he put his hand in his pocket and nervously fingered the new house keys. He’d done one scary thing. Now it was time for the next one.

He got out and crossed the parking lot with the keys jangling in his pocket and the nerves jangling under his skin, and leaned on the wall outside the door to the lobby in what he hoped looked like a casual way to wait for Louis. He’d showered and shaved and put on his lucky t-shirt for this moment. He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous – it’s not as though he was asking the guy to move in with him.

The door opened at ten after five, and Louis came out with his lanyard around his neck and backpack over one shoulder, putting up the hood of his parka. Riley’s heart skipped as he pushed off the wall and stepped out to meet him.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey!” Louis stopped, looking pleasantly surprised. “What are you doing back here?”

“Came to see what you’re doing this evening.”

Louis looked suspicious as he fell in step with Riley and they headed for the cars. “That couldn’t have been a text?”

“Uh…yeah. Yeah, I guess it could.” Riley cleared his throat. “I, ah, bought a house today.”

“Wow!” Louis looked impressed. “So it’s official. You live here now.”

“Yep. You’re never gonna be rid of me.”

Louis laughed, and Riley’s stomach flipped as the sound hit him. Louis’ breath clouded and drifted away over their heads. They walked in comfortable silence until they reached his car, then Louis turned, shifting the backpack on his shoulder. He fixed Riley with a playfully challenging look. “So are you going to invite me over?”

Riley managed to return his playful look, even though his insides were scrambling all over each other. He folded his arms and leaned one shoulder on the car. “That was the plan.”

Louis’ eyes sparked. “There’s a plan…”

“Yeah, actually, um…” Riley swallowed, then cleared his throat again, then hesitated, then thought Fuck it, and stuffed his hand into his pocket and pulled out the two sets of house keys. He held one out to Louis. “The plan was that you’d come over…all the time…”

Louis’ eyes flared. “Are you asking me to move in with you?”

“No! No, not…well…” Shit, now it sounded like he didn’t want that. “I guess if you wanted to…it wasn’t…in the immediate plan…I just meant you could, like, stay there. And have stuff there. And maybe not have stuff…at anyone else’s house.” He shrugged, trying to look casual. “And you know, maybe if you did want to move in, somewhere down the road…we could plan on that…and other things…but obviously no pressure, I know you really like your place, and mine doesn’t have peas on peas or any of that stuff, but there’s a pretty cool bookcase built into the living room, and we could put your Star Trek toys–”

Louis leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. Riley’s cheek lit up as Louis slipped his hand into Riley’s and gently pried the keys out of it. “Sounds great,” he said, tucking them into his pocket. “I would love to be part of your plan.”

Riley smiled, as Louis pulled back and met his eye again.

“Does the plan include dinner? Because I’m fucking starving.”

Riley pulled into his driveway twenty minutes later to find Louis already there, sitting on the hood of his car with his hands in his pockets, gazing up at the house. Riley parked behind him and grabbed the takeout bags off the passenger seat as he got out.

“Not too shabby,” said Louis. He hooked his arm into Riley’s as they walked up to the front door. Riley was still so nervous his hand was shaking as he turned the key in the lock. He opened the door and stepped through, turning anxiously to see the reaction on Louis’ face. Louis took it in as he followed him inside, gazing up at the two-story foyer, the banister on the staircase, the chandelier. It all felt suddenly ridiculous. So over the top.

“What do you think?” said Riley. His voice echoed in the emptiness.

Louis’ eyes came to his. He closed the gap between them, prying the takeout bag from Riley’s hand and setting it on the floor. He slipped both hands around Riley’s waist and pulled their hips together. “It’s beautiful. But can I be totally honest?”

Riley nervously searched his face. “Okay…”

Louis leaned in and put his lips to Riley’s ear. “I don’t really give a shit what the house looks like. Where are you going to fuck me in it?”

The answer to that question: on the stairs. Which was as far as they made it on their way to the bedroom. Fair enough: it’s not like there was a bed in there yet anyway. Riley’d at least had the foresight to pick up lube and condoms – that was pretty much all that was in the house, actually.

The stairs turned out to be perfect: Louis stood on the bottom step with his hands four steps above that, and Riley had the perfect angle from the floor to fuck the absolute shit out of him. Somewhere toward the end they wound up on their knees, and by the time he came, Riley had Louis in chokehold, and Louis was rambling like he had in that video, and the whole house was echoing with the sound of it.

Afterward, they sprawled naked on the thick carpet in the empty living with takeout spread out all around them as the sun went down behind the mountains. Through the sliding glass doors that led out the patio, they could see the lights of Montreal coming up in the dark.

They slept on an air mattress Riley had picked up at the camping store. He lay with his arms around Louis, feeling his back softly expand and contract against his chest, and his heart ached so badly he didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t remember anything ever hurting so much, and at the same time, he never wanted it to stop.