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“I can’t believe I haven’t met him yet,” Skylar admits, “with as many times as I’ve come by here. I feel like I’m already a resident here.”
“He’s not around as often, since he’s always on a shoot somewhere, or has a gallery, or some other big thing. I guess it’s just as well, since I know all the handymen he uses, and everyone talks to me when they’ve got an issue. Even Lex has stopped making up excuses for Dante to swing by.”
“Lex has Muscle Mack to distract him now,” Sky teases. “No more Dante obsession.” He faces me. “I know today is hard on you, Brett. You don’t have to mask what you’re feeling inside or act all brave. I can see it all over your face. You’re seconds from breaking down like a baby.”
I laugh and puff up my chest. “Dude, I’m not the sentimental crybaby I was a week ago. I’ve got this, don’t you worry,” I assure him. “I said all of my goodbyes already, anyway. I made my peace. Hell, we’ve already got a regular Sunday brunch thing planned, Con and I.”
“Con? You call him Con now?” Sky finds that way too funny, laughing as he walks away. “Oh, man. First it’s the lovey-dovey nicknames, then it’s gonna be a special ringtone in your phone …”
I chase after Skylar, catch him at the foot of the stairs, then pin him playfully to the wall. He stops laughing at once, staring into my eyes with surprise and tears of laughter. For a moment, he thinks I’m about to kiss him. I can sense his quickening heart rate, the tension of anticipation in his face, and the glint of yearning in his eyes.
And that’s exactly why I, instead, launch my fingers straight into his pits.
Sky screams out and doubles over in laughter as he tries to escape my pin, but I don’t let him go, torturing him with my wicked, evil fingers. “Okay, okay, okay!” he tries to scream, fighting me. “I’ll stop teasing you about—Ahh!—about Connor! I’ll—Ahh! Stop!—I’ll do anything you want! Please!”
I stop tickling him at once, letting him catch his breath. “You’ll do what?”
He growls playfully at me. “I said—”
“You’ll do anything I want?” I repeat, having heard him perfectly. “Is that what you said, bro?”
Just then, the door to 101 swings open, and a very perturbed Lex appears. “For fuck’s sake, you two, get a room. Maybe up on fifth, if you happen to know of one up there. Some of us are trying to have late-afternoon sex here before their big slab-of-beef boyfriends go in for their shift at Aubergines.”
Skylar throws a thumb at me. “Blame this guy. He has an obsession lately with tickling me to death.” He glares teasingly at me as he says that part. “And I can’t help it if I’m super ticklish and—”
“OH MY GOOD GOD, SPARE ME,” cries out Lex, exasperated. “Did you not hear what I said? You literally interrupted us having sex. I …” Suddenly his whole demeanor changes. “Oh, shit. I’m sorry. Is today the day?”
Skylar looks at me, then nods somberly.
I, however, act cheerful. “Hey, hey. Don’t give me that look. It isn’t a bad thing!”
Lex cocks an eyebrow. “Oh, really? Not a bad thing? I can smell your diaper change from a mile away, honey. Sorry, Skylar-poo, but Connor is his bro, and you’re going to need to really be there for Brett here, who will have a meltdown. I’m talking bedtime stories, hot cocoa, and Ben & Jerry’s.”
Skylar chuckles, comes up to Lex, and gives his shoulder a squeeze. “I’ve got this. I’m gonna love living here. Oh, hey, you’re into Pokémon, right?” he asks suddenly. “Did you see the new movie yet? It just released on Netflix, and Brett here couldn’t give the first fuck about it, but I thought—”
“Name the time, I’ll zap right up these stairs like Pikachu and live on your couch until we have watched it ten times in a row and memorized every line,” Lex promptly replies. “Is tonight good? Yes? Should I bring popcorn?”
Heavy footsteps are followed by the big-bodied Mack, who appears in the doorway next to Lex, his muscled body covered by nothing except a gold G-string, which is stretched to its limit in trying to contain his somewhat-more-than-a-semi. “Are you guys talking about the new Pokémon movie?”
“No, no. Stay horny,” Lex orders him. “Don’t go into Comic-Con land. Go back to the bed.”
“Are you guys watching the movie tonight?”
“I said go back inside!”
“Oh, man, c’mon,” Mack whines. “I wanna see the damned movie, and you know I gotta work!”
Lex gives us both a look. “Pardon us. We have a lover’s quarrel that will inevitably end with us finishing the sex you two so rudely interrupted.” He (somehow) pushes the bulldozer that is Mack back into the apartment, then stops and turns. “If you ask me, I think you two are going to be the best bros that ever lived in 501. Oh, and if you see Zak, can you ask if Mack can have his name, now that he’s retiring from Aubergines? Mack Attack … It has a ring to it.” Lex wiggles his fingers at us, then slips back into his apartment and slams shut the door.
