Page 19 of Garbage

Evan knew he was being selfish, but he cut in. “I’ll get you set up so you can order some things with my account. We can have them mailed here.”

“Oh, thank you, Evan!”

“No problem, Q.” Evan allowed himself to feel just a little bit of satisfaction.

Ben nudged him in the side.

“What?” Evan grumbled, even though he knew what Ben meant.

Ben just raised one eyebrow.

“He needs clothes,” Evan insisted.

“I don’t need them,” Quincy interjected. “You don’t have to get me anything.”

Ben laughed. “Oh, don’t worry. Evan will be more than happy to get them for you.” He slapped Evan on the shoulder. “You just tell him everything your heart desires.”

“Okay.” Quincy seemed to take this at face value. He left the elevator first and made a beeline for Evan’s apartment, then stood outside, bouncing on his toes.

“You’re right,” Ben whispered, hanging back. “He’s an overgrown puppy. Just remember that you don’t get to keep him. He might change a lot when he’s got full access to his programming or decides to get mods.”

“I know,” Evan hissed back. “I’m just helping him out.”

“Doesn’t he look a little like Cole? And Jack? And…”

“No.” Evan scowled. Quincy was much hotter than any of his exes.

“You know you have a history…” Ben warned lightly.

Evan knew it. He did. He fell for hot guys who bothered looking at him once, and then didn’t see all the warning signs when the way they were treating him changed. He was too sheltered, or maybe too oblivious, to notice if something was off, and wanted to believe the best in everyone.

It didn’t help that he was drawn to the bad boy type with the muscles and height to manhandle him into submission, or that a good sneer made his knees go weak.

It was a good thing he had Ben, whose snarky, jaded ass had already lost all hope in humanity. Though it mostly resulted in more rounds of I told you so.

Evan opened the door and Quincy pranced in, remarkably light on his feet for a man his size. “I’ll go put my towel on the hook,” he informed them.

“If you like,” Evan offered, “we can put it in the washing machine so it’s clean for tomorrow.”

“Oh, yes please! That’s even better. Thank you, Evan.”

Ben gave Evan a look. Evan shrugged. Could he help it that Quincy was the cutest thing on earth?

After showing Quincy how to run the washing machine, which he was endearingly impressed by, Evan left him to watch it while he got a beer for himself and a coffee for Ben, who was just waking up for a night shift. He slipped a mug of water into the microwave for Quincy’s hot chocolate, all under Ben’s amused observation.

A few moments after he stirred in the powder, Quincy appeared. “Hot chocolate? Ooh! The llama mug.” He cupped it in his large hands and inhaled like it was the nectar of the gods.

“He can’t drink it,” Evan explained.

“Of course not,” Ben agreed. There were whole rivers of meaning flowing beneath his dry delivery.

“So…” Evan suggested, “shall we get started on the upgrades?”

“Might as well,” Ben agreed.

“Thank you, Ben!” Quincy raced over to them. “What do I do?”

Ben gave him a stern look. “First, you never let anyone put any hardware or app inside you without checking it over first.” He started handing over boxes. “These are in their original packages. Make sure that they haven’t been tampered with.”