Page 16 of Garbage

Evan rocked his head a little, pressed against Quincy’s shoulder. “I’m definitely not scared.” It sounded like he was implying something else, but Quincy didn’t know what. Like there was a joke he hadn’t figured out.

If Evan wasn’t scared though, he figured that was good enough. Evan was holding him tightly, his one pair of arms stroking up and down Quincy’s back.

It was amazing. He’d had no idea that touching another person could feel so good.

If Evan didn’t stop him, he would happily do this all night.

Then a thought occurred to him. “Did you say Ben would bring me the memory tomorrow?”

“Yeah, Q.” Evan’s breath was a soft little puff against his shoulder.

“So… will you meet me at the depot?” He just wanted to know how long this would last.

“Yeah. I’ll pick you up and bring you back here.”

“At your apartment? For two evenings?” Quincy clarified, just to be sure.

Evan chuckled as he looked up, putting just an inch of distance between them. “Oh, I guess I didn’t explain that. Or ask permission or whatever. Um, you can stay with me. If you want to. Like, you can live here while you get things sorted out. Or, I guess if you don’t like staying with me, I could see if Ben or one of our other friends could put you up. Or we could get you a hotel room? I imagine there are programs, too, for new sparks, that we could look into.”

“I’d like to stay here,” Quincy whispered. And then, since Evan had already been touching him, he reached out to touch Evan’s hair. It was so soft. “I want to stay with you.”

Evan drew in a sharp breath and the pupils of his eyes got huge. Quincy couldn’t figure out the rest of his expression, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t fear. More like… Evan wanted something?

“Okay, yeah, buddy. We can do that. I’ll, uh, get you a pillow and blanket if you want to rest on the couch.” Evan’s face was flushed pink. “But, uh, we should finish eating dinner right now.” Ah, maybe he wanted more food.

“Oh. Oh! Yes. We can stop hugging so you can eat.” Quincy snapped his secondary appendages back into place and scurried over to the table.

Evan returned to the table more slowly, his walk a little stiff, then he quickly sat down. By the time he ate a few bites, the strange expression on his face was gone.

Tentatively, Quincy brought out his claw arm to pick up his hot chocolate. It was cool now, but it still smelled good.

He got an encouraging smile from Evan. “So, what would you like to do after dinner? We could watch a movie, play a game, go for a walk, I suppose.”

All of those sounded good, but Quincy already knew what he would choose. “Can we watch The Little Mermaid? And then will you show me all of your mugs?” They were special to Evan, so he wanted to know all about them.

Evan blinked. “Uh, yeah. Not what I was expecting but… Yeah. That sounds like a good evening. I’d enjoy that.”

Chapter 5

Evan

Evan lay in bed, listening to the sounds from his living room. It was weird to have someone moving around out there. Even weirder when he considered who it was and what he was doing.

Quincy, who had to be the cutest spark in the history of the universe, was opening all of his drawers, touching the things inside, and then carefully putting them back where he’d found them.

It was fucking adorable, especially for such a solid, hulking man.

Quincy’s curiosity was limitless, and once they’d discussed all the jokes on the coffee mugs, they’d moved on to the cabinet with the plates and glasses, and then the refrigerator. Quincy was charmed with everything, from the garlic press that he’d asked about twice because he apparently forgot the first time, to the pile of twist ties that Evan hadn’t even realized he tossed into the junk drawer.

Evan hadn’t meant to stay up so late, but when Quincy looked at him with those big brown eyes and asked him about the paper towel roll holder or something equally innocuous, he found it hard to say no.

Quincy had a rugged masculinity, with a sharp jaw and a thick build that definitely pinged Evan’s attraction. His fingers were thick, but still careful. He’d lifted up Evan’s heavy oak table without a second thought when Evan mentioned dust bunnies, muscles bulging in the thin pajama shirt.

Of course, any semblance Quincy had of being macho and dominant flew away when he dived onto the couch with the pillow and blanket Evan set out, snuggling into the softness and then rolling around in it like an overgrown kitten.

Evan had somehow imagined that Quincy would rest after being given a bed, but apparently he hadn’t been able to stay still that long.

And now Evan was listening to him prowl around the living room.