17. Rehearsal #3
Maybe if Dae woke up at that exact moment, he’d be able to feel how hard Theo was, but Theo didn’t care; the sight of him snuggled close, his deep breath, soft face, and messy hair were worth the risk.
Or at least, he thought they were until Dae sucked in a hitching breath, blinking awake, and Theo nearly pulled a muscle backwards-summersaulting off the bed and into the bathroom with a strangled, “G’morning!”
His shower was longer than normal, the notes from his playlist bouncing around the tiled walls, drowning out his hushed grunts as he stroked himself—not thinking about Dae. Or his heat. Or the sounds he’d made as he woke up.
“Fuck.” He clamped his jaw so tight, he feared for his teeth as he came, panting into the shower wall.
He took his sweet time drying off and re-dressing before sneaking back into the bedroom to find his phone. Dae had fallen back asleep in the same position, his hand reached out, his fingers tangled in the sheet.
Theo wasn’t sure what possessed him to take a picture. Dae just looked so comfortable and open. No walls. He forgot his stupid flash was on, so when he took the picture, Dae’s eyes fluttered open.
“Shit, sorry.”
“No.” His voice was husky, barely there. “I’m up.”
“What time is it for you?”
He squinted at his phone. “Eleven at night.”
He’d stayed up almost twenty hours to get there on connecting flights. “Go back to sleep, we don’t have to leave for two more hours.”
Dae shook his head and sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed, his shoulders hunched, his head drooping. “It’s better to power through.”
The sight of him on his bed, only halfway out of sleep, his hand running through his hair, a quiet yawn stretching the pillow-creased skin of his face, was too much.
Theo needed to escape. “Okay, well, up and at 'em, then!” He was being so fucking weird. What was this chipper voice he was using? “There’s a breakfast burrito in it for you!”
Dae shook his head, peering at him through puffy eyelids. “Theo, you have to start eating real food.”
But still, he followed him into the kitchen, his bare feet padding against the hardwood. For all his breakfast-judgement, he ate the burrito, and the second one Theo heated for them to share.
His fingers drummed the counter. “So, um, you haven’t sent me any dating stories in a while.”
Theo snorted into his coffee. “My love life is on pause at the moment.”
“Oh?” His deep morning voice was replaced with something awkward and forced. “Why?”
The string of disappointing month-long sojourns was taking a toll on his will to live.
The sex was fun, but no one ever made him feel good about himself.
And he couldn’t say he ever left anyone in better shape than he found them.
So, after some tough love from Jordan and an evening of wine-induced soul-searching, he decided to take a break.
He couldn’t say that to Dae, though. For whatever reason.
“I’m a busy man.”
Dae nodded as he poured his second cup of coffee, the splash of the hot liquid against the mug like a siren call, making Theo lift his own mug for a refill. “I’ve been following Jordan’s channel,” Dae said. “Things are heating up.”
They were. She’d been getting noticed by the right people, and Theo had been successful in convincing her that was the desired goal.
“What about you?” Dae rarely sent stories about his own romantic life, and Theo didn’t know if that was because he didn’t have one, or because he just wasn’t sharing.
“Nothing serious.”
“But something?”
His hand was in his hair again. “Not really. Just trying things out. Taking a page from your book.”
His book. Theo didn’t want to think about what pages from his book Dae was trying out. Which was dumb. Dae had every right to try out anything and anyone he wanted. “Better get ready.”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “Caleb probably wants us there early.”
Theo got ready in his room while Dae stayed in the bathroom. When he emerged, he was in his classic white shirt and black tie. Theo didn’t want to overwhelm him with compliments, so he kept how gorgeous he looked to himself, though a low whistle may have slipped out that made Dae shake his head.
The t-shirt he handed back smelled like him, and it took all of Theo’s will power not to shove it in his face and breathe it into his soul.
“It’s been yours longer than it was mine,” Dae said with utmost sincerity. “It wants to be here.”
“It told you that?”
“Uhm hmm. It’s too shy to tell you.”
Theo put it back in its place in the drawer, where it would be with all its t-shirt friends. “You can tell me anything,” he stage-whispered. “That goes for all of you.”
Dae laughed and Theo spun around just in time to see his dimples disappearing.
“Do you think you can tear yourself away from your fabric family long enough to go to a wedding?”
Theo heaved a wistful sigh as he closed the drawer. “It’s okay. Daddy will be home soon.”
Dae shook his head in amused horror. “I implore you to never refer to yourself as Daddy ever again.”
Against his better judgement, Theo winked. “No promises.”