Page 41 of Love Language

Greg felt tired. Tired of carrying it all around. Nothing new. I miss Richard. I was getting a shirt out of the closet and… never mind.

Never mind? It’s OK if you want to talk about it.

Greg knew it was OK, but sometimes he just didn’t want to. Not to mention that Marco was supposed to be his sexy experiment or friend-with-benefits or whatever, not his shrink. He didn’t need to wallow in it like this.

He should just change the subject. How’s the business?

Marco radiated excitement about his two new clients, including a gay bar that wanted him to do their new logo and signage. He truly loved his work and it was beautiful to watch.

And how’s FlexTech?

Marco rolled his eyes.

That good? Apparently, the start-up had too many people trying to weigh in on their look, and after three months they still hadn’t decided on anything. They also took forever getting back to Marco, and then hassled him when he set reasonable expectations for turn-around time. And while the first two people Marco had talked to had been cool with communicating through email, apparently some of the other people on the team were annoyed that he wasn’t available to call them on the phone.

Marco was at his wit’s end with them, but he handled it with a level of grace and humor that always left Greg impressed.

Maybe I’m not cut out for running my own business.

That made Greg sit up straight. Of course, you are! I mean, some people like to work for larger companies because they get shielded from some of this crap, but if this is what you want, I think you can absolutely do it. You’re an excellent designer, you like people, and you usually love your job. You just have a crappy client.

Marco looked defeated. Yeah, but there are always crappy clients. I left my old job because my boss over-promised what I could do to butter up the clients and then took it out on me. I thought it would be different on my own, but now I’m dealing with mostly the same shit but without a buffer or a team.

You can always drop them as clients. You don’t owe them anything.

Actually, they owe me several thousand dollars, payable on delivery of a finished product. And it’s already hard enough building up my reputation without dropping clients because they’re too disorganized to handle working with a consultant.

Wow. Greg hadn’t realized that it was that bad. You should get them to pay you before you do any more work.

Believe me, I’ve tried. It’s just hard because they can’t appoint a single person to actually take responsibility for working with me.

Is there anything I can do to help?

Marco just looked more miserable and shook his head. Greg hoped it was because he didn’t think there was anything that could be done, not because he was too proud to accept help from a sub.

He hated seeing this bright, talented man look so defeated.

How come we never hang out on weekends? popped into his hands. Well, that hadn’t been what he meant to say.

Marco blinked, and then a smile grew on his face.

Shit. Had he been waiting for Greg to ask? Now Greg felt even worse. He was so wrapped up in mourning Richard and getting his kinky needs met that he’d been a crappy friend.

Would you like to hang out on the weekends? Marco asked eagerly. We could see each other on different nights of the week, too.

Greg was totally an asshole. He knew that Marco had set up their schedule to help him feel comfortable about doing, well, whatever they were doing, and he hadn’t even thought about whether it was what Marco wanted.

Marco was so different from Richard. He wasn’t used to thinking about what someone else might need, because Richard had handled all of that for both of them.

I’d like that, he replied, trying not to let his shame and guilt seep through.

But he must not have been very successful.

Are you sure? We don’t have to.

Asshole, exhibit A: Greg. No, I want to. Really. He smiled pleadingly. He really didn’t want to fuck this up. Marco was his best friend and ridiculously good in bed and just… exactly what he needed right now.

Marco gave him a hot, flirty look. What are you doing this weekend?