Page 90 of Game Misconduct

“I don’t know. Sometimes—sometimes I’m too annoying or too … whatever. People get tired of me.”

“It’s been ten years, Clayton. Clearly, I’m not going anywhere.”

Tanner grinned, oddly relieved. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Good to know, Princess.” Tanner deflated a little. “Iamsorry I ruined the mood.”

Leif gave him a blank look.

“We—we had plans for our usual, right? Getting each other off.”

“Well yeah,” Leif said. “But if you’re not in the mood, it’s fine.”

“I could get there,” Tanner protested.

“Sure,” Leif said. “But we could also just have a night like we did at the tournament.”

“What? Stuffing ourselves and watching a movie?”

“I was thinking mostly the movie and no sex part, but yeah.”

“We both know sex makes me feel better.”

“If you want that, that’s fine,” Leif said slowly. “I just think maybe it’s okay if you figure out stuff that makes you feel good thatisn’tsex. Not that it’s my place to?—”

Tanner sighed. “No, I get what you’re saying. We can try it?”

“Okay. So what movie are we watching? Last time was your pick so I think we should go with my pick this time …”

“What?” Tanner squawked. “It was not my pick last time.”

“It totally was!” Leif protested.

They argued for a few minutes before they finally settled onThe Mighty Ducks. Leif made a crack about that being the only part where their Venn diagram of movie tastes overlapped, but Tanner didn’t know what the fuck a Venn diagram was. Leif sighed and explained it, then finally told him to do an online search.

“Oh, yeah!” Tanner said when he pulled up pictures. “The overlapping circle things! I know those.”

Tanner got all set up with some pillows and his laptop—Leif even reminded him to plug it in so it wouldn’t die halfway through—and when Tanner settled on his side, one earbud in to listen to Leif, one earbud out to listen to the movie, he released a contented sigh.

“You were right.”

Leif grinned. “I feel like I need to record this because it might never happen again.”

“Shut up,” Tanner muttered.

“Why? Am I right?”

“This is nice,” he said quietly. “What I needed.”

“Better than sex?”

Tanner scoffed. “Well, I don’t know aboutthat.”

After Leif ended the call, he glanced at the time and frowned. It was late. He should be getting to bed soon. Sleep was an important part of his recovery. But something had been nagging at him since his conversation with Tanner started.

He grabbed his MacBook and brought up a browser. He opened multiple tabs and typed in the following: