SquidgeWorld Archive

Will tucked the basketball under his arm and opened the door to his house. From behind, Don grabbed the ball and dribbled away down the sidewalk.

Will laughed. "Haven't got enough of a trouncing yet?"

"I think it was pretty even," Don said, still bouncing the ball.

"Even?" Will said. "You had HIPPOPOTAMUS before I even got HORSE."

"It's your home basket," Don said blithely. "You had an unfair advantage."

Will frowned thoughtfully and looked at his garage. "Maybe I should actually put a hoop on my garage so we don't have to go all the way down to the park and hope that court is open."

"Now you're talking," Don said and tossed Will the ball. Will caught it and walked into the kitchen. He pulled out two bottled waters from the fridge. Don came in behind him and shut the door. Will flipped him a water and opened his own. Don twisted open his, drank half of it down then dumped the remaining water on his head.

Entranced, Will watched Don shake his wet head. Damn the man was sexy in black shorts and sweaty Bruins t-shirt. He would probably be sexy in a pink bunny suit. That made Will laugh and Don raised an eyebrow.

"Just a funny mental image," Will grinned.

"Of what?"

Will shook his head. "I'll tell you sometime." When there's at least a mile separating us.

Don shrugged and sat down at the kitchen table. Without Don needing to ask, Will got a second bottle of water out of the fridge and tossed it to him.

"You should really have some Gatorade or something around," Don said, chucking his empty bottle in the recycle bin and opening the fresh bottle.

"Maybe I should post a grocery list that you can add to at your leisure."

"Hey," Don said, toasting Will with the water. "You're full of good ideas today."

Will sat down at the table across from Don and fiddled with his bottle. There was another idea he wanted to bring up, but couldn't decide how to approach it that Don wouldn't feel pressured.

Will looked up to see Don watching him curiously.

"What's up?" Don asked.

"I was wondering if you wanted to ... stay here."

"You mean tonight? Sure, I was actually planning on it."

"I mean," Will gave a one-shoulder shrug. "Stay here, stay here."

"As in ..."

"As in move in."

Don raised his eyebrows and Will watched his face for any sign of reaction. Was it too soon?

"I don't know, Will," Don said slowly. "I'm pretty used to being a bachelor. Don't know that you'd like me as a housemate."

"You hardly spend any time at your apartment as it is," Will said.

"True," Don said. "But I can always go there if we get on each other's nerves."

"Yeah," Will said with resignation. Too soon, definitely. It would just be so nice to not have Don leaving all the time, to know that Don would be home without having to set up something specific, to have Don's bed be his bed.

Don reached over to touch Will's hand. "I'd like to, though."

"You would?" Will said, sitting up straight.

"Just not sure you know what a slob you'd be getting."

"Don," Will laughed. "I've lived with slobs and I can tell you that you are not one."

"Who are these other people you've lived with?" Don growled playfully. "I need to go beat them up."

"Down boy," Will smiled. Then he looked at Don seriously. "I don't need both of the extra bedrooms. I figure I could clear out one of them for you, so you could have your own space, for an office or something. Also, the second bathroom could be yours so we wouldn't get in each other's way in the morning. It doesn't have a tub but it does have a decent shower."

Don tilted his head to the side. "You've been thinking about this a lot."

"Yeah," Will admitted and rushed on, trying to guess Don's other reservations. "It won't be a worse drive to your office from here than it is from your apartment, though not as close as your family's house. You could pay half the rent so you don't feel like you're sponging or anything."

"You don't own the house?" Don asked.

"My parents do," Will confessed. "It's a rental property they've had for years. When I got transferred to LA, it happened to be empty so it worked out. We have a formal rental agreement and everything so it doesn't get weird since it's family and all."

Don got up from his chair and came around to Will's side of the table. He pushed Will's chair back and straddled Will's lap and put his arms around Will's neck. Will slid his arms around Don's waist and looked up at him.

"I'd love to move in with you, aein." Don said warmly. "It would be awfully nice to have someone to come home to, when I do eventually make it home."

Will felt a big smile on his face. "Yeah, it would be nice, wouldn't it. And think of all the money both of us will be saving on rent."

"And on gas and utilities," Don gave him one of his heart-stopping smiles. "And we won't have to stock two separate fridges with beer and Gatorade."

"We'll probably have to codify a few house rules," Will said. "Just to make sure that we don't drive each other crazy right away. I'm pretty used to living by myself too."

"House rules," Don said with a laugh. "Probably a good idea. Like, `he who drinks the last beer better get some more.'"

"Something like that," Will smiled. Don moving in with him would be another step towards convincing himself deep down that this relationship was long-term. And it would demonstrate to the world how serious they were. Will wanted to shout to the world that Don Eppes was his, but he'd settle for a few definite statements. One would be telling your family. Will squashed that thought immediately, not wanting to ruin his happy mood.

"So, Will," Don grinned. "I think I'll go use my half of the hot water. Wanna bring your half of the hot water and join me?"

"If I smell anywhere as near as bad as you do," Will said with a matching grin. "Then it gonna take more hot water than my water heater holds."

"Then maybe we should consider replacing our water heater with a larger one."

God, I love the sound of `we'. Will pulled Don's face down and kissed him thoroughly, sliding his fingers down Don's sweaty neck. Pulling back, Will said, "And we are definitely gonna get a hoop for the garage. Your jump shot needs serious work."

Don laughed, climbed off Will's lap, and pulled Will to his feet. "I think I need to get more sweaty before I get clean," Don said huskily.

"I forgot that sweat turns you on," Will murmured, pulling up Don's damp t-shirt.

"So I'm a man's man," Don said, leaning forward and taking a deep breath of Will's scent.

"Not a man's man," Will corrected, running his fingers through the pool of sweat that had collected in the small of Don's back then sliding his hands downward and under the waistband of Don's shorts. "This man's man. No sniffing up other sweaty men."

"That sounds like a good house rule to me," Don agreed and pulled Will close for a kiss to seal the deal.