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No way… exceptone.
He frowned.Enter the Dragondeserved better than this from him. Deserved better than the second-hand TV they had managed to scrounge up for their dorm room, too. Small, it nonetheless dominated the dresser it perched on like a one-eyed gargoyle, the tape slot grinning obscenely at them as if it knew a secret it refused to tell. Its speakers had all gone to shit and parts of the screen didn't even show color quite right, the image washed with greens and reds where they had no business being.
But it had the considerable recommendation of having been cheap as hell, making it good enough for him and Ethan — and perfect for their pitiful excuse of a budget furnishing their dorm room.
When Frank had offered it to Jakob for the low, back-breaking price of cleaning out the stables at the end of the summer tourist season, Jakob had, of course, said yes. As it was a chore he would have had to do anyway; a free TV was at least some small condolence to his aching muscles after.
The sight of a sweaty, glistening Ethan working alongside him in a white tank top, the thin material clinging to every muscle and curve?
Yeah, that hadn't been half bad either.
It… wasn't the first time Jakob had noticed his friend like that, not by a long shot.
Ethan was handsome, that was easy enough for anyone to see. But so were a lot of other guys on their football team, for that matter. It was just a simple and observable fact, didn’t mean anything. Jakob had plenty of other matters to be concerned with: his scholarships, classes, his chores on the ranch, a constantly rotating cast of girlfriends; he had no lack of things with which to occupy his time and attention.
If only his eyes would get with the program and stop trying to notice somuch.
In the locker room, on the football field, at a party. Last break when Ethan had come back home with Jakob and helped pitch in around the ranch. Even sometimes when they were here in their dorm room, studying or playing games or watching a movie as they were now; Jakob would look over and catch a glimpse and —
Helikedgirls. There had never been any question of that. It's just that…
Jakob was starting to wonder if…
He might like Ethan, too.
"What?" Ethan asked absently, reaching for the bowl of popcorn that sat balanced across their thighs.
They were sitting on Ethan's bed to watch the movie. They had to — you couldn't see for shit from Jakob's because of how they'd had to angle the TV to catch the signal. Shoulder to shoulder, it was just as if this was any of the dozens, maybe hundreds, of sleepovers they'd had since they were kids. Ethan's bed might have a weird dip in it where someone had long ago managed to bend the ancient, institutional frame, but it served.
The cinderblock wall Jakob was leaning against was like ice, though; neither his cheap hoodie nor the decades-deep layers of chipped paint that now covered it providing anything close to insulation at all. Nights such as tonight it was kind of nice, especially with the flush he could feel shooting up his neck at Ethan's question.
"Just… Nothin'," Jakob huffed, turning back to the movie and trying to remember which of the characters was supposed to be the bad guy again.
"No, what?" Ethan asked, hitting the pause button on the remote. "You keep glancing over here. I got something on my face?"
He scrubbed a broad hand across his jaw and cheekbones before throwing an expectant look at Jakob for approval.
"No, it's — it's not that," Jakob muttered. "Just… forget it."
But of course, that only made Ethan more interested, that same hand coming to rest on Jakob's knee in an old familiar gesture Ethan had probably done a thousand times before.
It was fine. It was comfortable. It wasthem.
It was absolutely no reason for Jakob to suck in a sharp breath at the touch. No reason at all for his belly to erupt in a million butterflies at the way Ethan's eyes were so focused on him.
Something unreadable flashed across Ethan's face at Jakob's response, however. Something dark and shuttered, an expression that looked so out of place that —
Jakob grabbed for Ethan's hand before he had fully pulled away, keeping his friend's palm firmly on his propped-up knee. Shit. He didn't want to risk hurting his best friend the way so many had before; Jakob needed to tread carefully here. He needed to —
"What's it like?"
—needed to not saythat, fuck.What iswrongwith you?But the words had slipped out in a breath before Jakob could stop himself, off racing down the beach.
"…what'swhatlike?" Ethan asked in a deliberately measured tone that said he already had his suspicions just what Jakob had meant, but had a far more developed sense of caution than Jakob had shown.
But… Fuck it — the horse had the bit in her teeth now. Might as well see where she would run, right?
As long as Ethan doesn't punch me in the face for it…
