25 Brandon
Brandon
“Time for trivia!” Ollie announces. They’ve all gathered in the game room upstairs, where there are several white chairs and a loveseat surrounding a white marble table on a white rug.
Brandon and Jon were very careful, only buying pale beers, seltzer, tonic, vodka, gin.
Brandon decided he didn’t even want to risk white wine.
Clear only. And for food, there are the German pastries, some vegetables with a yogurt dip, and crackers, thankfully, because three people brought cheese!
And cheese probably won’t stain anything either.
It’s the four of them, plus Ollie’s date, Safiya, with Pete curled up in her lap, wearing a polka-dot bow tie, chewing on a rubber ring;Victor, who greeted all of them with a huge hug before looking deep into their eyes and telling them how much he missed them; and Tom, who is adorable but a strong contrast to Victor, soft looking and professorial in a cardigan and polo next to Victor’s tank top and open flannel shirt, showing off all those muscles.
Everyone is drinking, snacking, even chatting a little. Everyone has been introduced.
But best of all, there’s Jon, his arm around Brandon’s shoulders, warm as Brandon leans into him on the loveseat.
“I worked hard on these,” Ollie says, laying down stacks of note cards in the categories he created as he reads them off. “International Diplomacy. Hand-to-Hand Combat. Guns. Street Value of Drugs. Identity Theft. And, of course, our old standby: Porn Stars Who Are Couples in Real Life.”
The room is quiet. Aside from the last one, these are not the usual types of trivia categories they have at game night. Brandon looks at Ollie, who is standing proudly, hands on hips.
“Well…” Nicole says. “The porn star couples better include some lesbians this time.”
“You guys have gotten into some intense stuff,” Victor says. “But I feel like I could do well with guns.”
“Do you know about guns?” Jon asks from beside Brandon.
“He’s a U.S. marshal,” Ian says quickly.
“Huh,” Jon says. Brandon can feel him tense up a little.
Tom giggles, a little high-pitched. Brandon wonders if he knows Victor is Ian’s ex.
“Don’t worry, I’m off duty,” Victor says.
“Well, I work at a weed shop,” Safiya says, “but the street value of drugs isn’t quite the same. Just in case you were trying to win my affection with that one.” She raises an eyebrow at Ollie.
“That would be unfair,” Ollie says, winking at her.
“I don’t mind,” Safiya says. “I want to win!”
Ollie laughs. “We don’t really keep score.”
“No?” Jon asks, looking at Brandon. “How do I get my prize?”
“I guess just be very impressive.” Brandon does his best flirty shrug, though they already decided Jon would stay over tonight.
He just has a backpack, not the one he had when he checked in, but Brandon doesn’t want to ask about that.
He must have bought it when his trip got extended, right?
There’s admittedly a lot Brandon doesn’t want to ask, and he knows that’s foolish, but he just wants to enjoy this.
They had an amazing time wandering the city, talking about DSLWLS, tasting various German pastries, dolloping cream on each other’s noses.
It was a perfect afternoon. Something out of a rom-com.
His friends would mock him relentlessly, and Brandon knows there are questions that need to be answered, but right now he is so happy.
And he just wants to stay that way as long as possible.
“Ew, no flirting,” Ian says.
“None?” Tom asks, trying to be coy, Brandon thinks, but sounding too nervous.
Ian rolls their eyes.
Ollie claps his hands. “Okay, let’s do trivia!”
“These categories are ridiculous,” Nicole says, glaring at Ollie. “We don’t know any of this stuff.”
“We’ll learn!” Ollie says. His grin is growing forced, rigid. “The rules, if people don’t know, are easy—shout out the answer fastest. First correct answer gets to pick the next category. Nicole, why don’t you pick first?”
Nicole sighs and leans back into the sofa. Must be hard for her being the only one without a date. Brandon needs to find her someone.
“Porn Stars Who Are Couples in Real Life,” Nicole says with a shrug.
Ollie lifts the top card and reads it: “Which twink couple has shared scenes in only two films— Naughty Stepbrothers: Volume 17 and Heart Throbber —but met on the set of Open-Him-R: An Oppenheimer Porn Parody , where they had no scenes together?”
“Not lesbians,” Nicole says.
“They’re in there, I promise,” Ollie says.
Brandon glances at Jon. He knows the answer but is afraid if he says it too quickly, then he’ll look like an oversexed pervert, and that’s more of a third-date reveal.
“Oh, oh,” Victor says. “I know this one. One of them is Justin Justins. And the other is…” He shakes his head, squinting.
“Starts with an s ,” Ian prompts, something they used to do all the time when they were together. Brandon wonders why they invited both Victor and Tom, and why they’re crammed between them now. Like a test, but Brandon isn’t sure for who.
“Oh, Stephen Hole!” Victor finishes.
“Correct!” Ollie says. “You get to pick the next category.”
“Yes!” Victor does a fist pump and slaps Ian on the back, which Tom definitely notices.
“Well, let’s go with guns, then. I know about weapons and lifting.
” He flexes, grinning. Ian laughs, and Tom frowns slightly, though Brandon isn’t sure anyone else sees it.
Maybe he’ll need to help Ian figure out their love life, too.
Ollie picks the top card in the Guns category and reads it: “What brand of pistol is most commonly used by German BND agents?”
Brandon frowns. He doesn’t even understand that question, but he’s starting to understand the reason for the unusual categories.
“I know this one,” Jon says, raising his hand slightly. “Do I just say it? Glock.”
“Correct!” Ollie says, his smile a little manic now.
Brandon swallows. “You know guns?”
“It’s what Ingrid uses in DSLWLS, remember?”
Brandon smiles. He’s right. A Totally Normal Explanation. He glances at Ollie and raises his eyebrows. Ollie’s smile fades slightly.
“You pick the next category,” Ollie tells Jon.
“Pick drugs,” Safiya says. “I want to know something.”
Jon laughs. “Okay, drugs.”
This is all such a setup. Brandon should tell Jon everything.
The truth of how they found him, what they saw.
He’s going to figure it out anyway—Ollie’s scheme isn’t subtle.
He squeezes Jon’s hand, the truth now rising in his throat.
But not here. Especially not in front of Victor—who knows what he’d do?
Later, if Jon doesn’t figure it out. Hopefully he won’t.
“What is the approximate street value of one gram of cocaine?” Ollie reads.
“One hundred fifty to two hundred dollars,” Tom answers immediately and with calm assurance. All eyes turn to him.
“Correct,” Ollie says softly.
“What did you say you do for a living?” Victor asks, leaning toward him.
“I’m in marketing,” Tom says, smiling. His back is weirdly straight.
Victor narrows his eyes. “Marketing what?”
Tom nods. “My newest account is Dudches”—he points at Victor like he’s selling him on something—“an anal-douching kit for bros.”
Victor’s eyes narrow even more.
“So,” Ian says brightly, leaning forward between Tom and Victor so quickly, their drink sloshes and threatens to spill for a moment. “Jon! Where have you been staying since you checked out of Brandon’s hotel?”
“A few cheap hotels, wherever I could get a reservation,” Jon says with a shrug. Brandon watches Ian. He can understand wanting to get attention somewhere else, but why on Jon?
“He’s staying back at Hotel Brandon tonight though,” Brandon says, squeezing Jon’s thigh.
“Oh, so your stuff is here?” Ian asks. “I didn’t notice.”
“I don’t have much,” Jon says, with a laugh that sounds forced.
“Tom, you pick the next category,” Brandon says.
“Go for international politics,” Nicole says, looking up from her phone. “None of us know anything about that.”
“Okay,” Tom says. “International politics.”
Ollie takes the card off the pile with a flourish. “Operation Mincemeat was a World War II plot to do what?”
“Oh.” Jon sits up, excited, hands bursting out like he’s onstage.
“It was when they planted fake papers on a body and dropped it in the water around Spain to look like a pilot had washed ashore with invasion plans for Sardinia, so Hitler would move his troops out of Sicily. Ian Flemming worked on it,” he says, turning to Brandon.
“That’s correct,” Ollie says, that manic look back in his eye, now with a giant grin to match. Brandon shifts uncomfortably, trying to settle back into Jon.
“Pick drugs again,” Brandon whispers to Jon, wanting to get attention off him.
“Let’s go back to drugs,” Jon says, nodding.
Ollie takes the top card, eyes still on Jon, unblinking. “The street value of one pill of ecstasy.”
“About seventy dollars,” Tom says quickly.
“Correct,” Ollie says, turning back toward Tom with the rest of the room, except for Nicole, who’s looking at her phone. Probably doing work. Again.
“I’m going to the bathroom,” Ian announces, standing. Brandon doesn’t blame them; this is getting awkward.
Ian leaves, and Tom, oblivious to the stares, smiles at Ollie. “Let’s do drugs again.”
Ollie takes a long sip of his beer and picks up the next drug card. Tom knows the street value of a kilo of cocaine but thankfully, Safiya knows what a dime bag of Kush costs and announces it before Victor can arrest Tom.
“Let’s do Identity Theft,” Safiya says, petting Pete. “That sounds fun.”
“All right,” Ollie says with a smile, then plucks a card up. “Which state do the highest percentage of fake driver’s licenses claim to be from?”
Brandon looks around. No one seems to know.
“Texas,” Jon says casually.
“Correct,” Ollie says proudly.
“Let’s do Hand-to-Hand Combat,” Jon says.
Brandon frowns; he really doesn’t love this.
“What do you do for a living?” Victor asks, turning his attention to Jon now.