Page 104 of Ethan

“Oh good,” Ethan said, glancing down at his phone as they walked towards the elevator. “Charlie says they’ve vacated Max’s place.”

And somehow, that was worse than potentially doing it in Ethan’s bed. Maybe it was still in Barney’s apartment, but it wasEthan’sbedroom, where he’d been living for months.

Hank was just up to the Bandits for the first time all year and living in his captain’s apartment and now Ethan expected them to . . . well, Hank wasn’t sure. They’d had sex in September, but it had felt accidental, almost, like they’d gotten carried away. This didn’t feel like that at all. This feltpurposeful, and Hank wanted to think he was over squirming about this, but it turned out that he wasn’t. Not yet.

He didn’t know how to say that to Ethan, though, because what if he thought that Hank didn’t want him? Because Hankwantedhim.

Maybe he shouldn’t have worried, because Ethan turned to him, and the look on Hank’s face must’ve given him away.

“Oh. You don’t want to,” Ethan said. The elevator door dinged closed and at least Ethan still pressed the button to Max’s floor.

It was instinctual, almost natural, to push Ethan against one of the shiny metal walls and kiss him, tongue sliding into his mouth like they’d been doing this whole time instead of just once.

Hank knew it would be easy to lose himself to the kiss, but he pulled back before he could. “Iwantto,” he murmured against Ethan’s lips.

“Then . . .” Ethan trailed off, looking uncertain in a way that Hank hated.

The elevator opened and Hank tugged him into the hallway, hand squeezing Ethan’s as they made their way to Max’s apartment.

“It’s just, this isn’tmyplace. It’s Max’s place.”

“Yeah,” Ethan said, frowning. The cutest little confused wrinkled appearing between his brows. “Do you want me to text Charlie and tell him and Max to come up here? Would it be better if we were in my bedroom?”

“Oh God,” Hank muttered as he typed in Max’s door code. That might be even more embarrassing. “No.No.We’ll . . . we’ll figure it out. There’s always a hotel.” Though that felt trashy and unnecessary in a way that he didn’t want.

“A hotel when we havetwoapartments at our disposal?” Ethan shot him a knowing look as he walked into Max’s apartment, probably feeling more at home here thanHankdid. From so many things he’d said over the last season, he’d spent a lot of time here, because Charlie spent a lot of time here.

But he didn’t head towards the guest room, but to the living room. He flopped down on the couch, looking up at Hank, who was still standing there feeling uncertain.

It was so stupid he wasn’t pulling Ethan up and leading him to his room now. It was even stupider he’d said they’d figure it out—whatwasthere to figure out, when they both wanted each other so much and hadbeenwanting each other so much?

“Come on,” Ethan said, patting the couch next to him. “We’ll watch something.”

“But—”

Ethan shot him a look, which didn’t just make him hot under the collar, but somehow reassured, too. Made him feel less like he was fucking all of this up.

“No,” Ethan said. “Come sit down, and we’ll watch something. There’s no rush. We can take it slow.”

Hank made a face, but Ethan smacked him on the leg. “Stop it,” he said. “Wecan. You’re going to be up for the rest of the season, and you’ll make the roster after this. We’ve got nothing but time. No reason to rush.”

Hank sat. He wasn’tthatstupid. “Except the three-plus months I spent thinking about exactly this and wanting it and now that I’ve got it, not doing it,” he muttered.

Turning to him, Ethan put a hand on the back of his neck, tugging him a little closer. “Babe, you’re my friend, too. Ilikeyou. I just want to be here, with you, like this. And more, too, at some point, if you’re down for that.”

Hank was so down. He was just thinking too much. Overthinking, really. But maybe Ethan was right; there was no reason to rush.

“And, I wanna say,” Ethan said, drifting more into Hank’s space, which he was never, ever going to complain about, “it was really kinda hotandsweet, how you told Charlie that we wouldn’t be having dinner with him and Max tonight.”

Swallowing hard, Hank looked into Ethan’s eyes. Had they always been this blue? He felt mesmerized by the depth of them. Wanted to see them go blurry and honeyed with pleasure. PleasureHankgave him.

“I’d been waiting for awhile to take you out.”

“Still,” Ethan said, reaching out and squeezing Hank’s knee through his jeans. “Sweet.”

Hank nearly kissed him then—wanted to, the desire a white-hot spear through him—but before he could, Ethan reached for the remote and flipped the TV on.

The answer was Ethanwasmore comfortable in Max’s apartment than Hank. Knew exactly how to work his entertainment system. How to flip over to the streaming services and pull up Netflix.