“Come on,” Eric said, leading Nathan to the couch. “Had dinner yet?”

“Nope,” Nathan said. “If you want to order something, I can pay.”

“Nah, I got it. So, want to watch something or move straight into the bedroom afterwards?”

“Eh,” Nathan said. “Kinda tired. Had a day.”

“I’m in charge, then?” Eric asked. Nathan nodded. “Then relax.” Eric tugged Nathan’s arm and guided his head into his lap. Nathan closed his eyes. “I heard about this classic sci-fi movie the other day. I’m not sure whether it sounds good or bad enough that it’s good. Guess we’ll find out. So for dinner…”

“I could do Chinese,” Nathan said.

“Sure, but what’s for dinner?” Eric asked.

“You know what I meant.” Nathan tried to glare up at Eric, but his neck didn’t twist that far and he had to put it back down. “Usual order.”

“Right. Want anything for tomorrow, Coral?”

“Nah,” she said. Or rather, they said. When Coral came into view, the pink bracelet had been replaced with a yellow one. “It just doesn’t taste the same after a microwave.”

“Again?” Eric asked.

“Yeah. Again.” Coral looked extremely annoyed and pale as a snowman.

“What happened?” Nathan asked.

“I’ve switched three times today. I even hit masculine for a few hours, and that’s fun when you’re on your period.” They shook their head. Nathan could have done without that detail. “Oh, and I got called in to work in the middle of the night because someone decided not to show up. And The Sergeant was in charge.”

“That’s awful.” Nathan hesitated. “You know, you don’t have to leave. You could stay.”

Coral raised an eyebrow. “Does that mean I can watch?”

“Um. No.”

“Not much of a choice, then.” They wrapped their hair up into a bun that was ambiguously man. “Apartment this small, either I’m in the room or I’m listening to you two, and that’s a very frustrating thing, so no. I’ll be fine with Addy.”

“Well, we don’t have to have sex,” Nathan said. Eric made a disappointed noise.

Coral looked between the two of them. “Like that’s happening. See you tomorrow.” They gave Eric a quick kiss before heading to the door. “Ta ta!”

“Bye,” Eric said, and Nathan waved. Once the door closed, Eric picked up his phone. “And it is officially the Magic Time, so time to order.” He dialed. “Hey, Crystal. Your granddad there? Yeah, making an order. Thanks.” A longer pause. “Wái. Géi hóu. Néih jeui gáhn dím a?”

Nathan tuned out the rest of the conversation. Aside from the fact that he didn’t understand Cantonese, Eric tended to talk to Mr. Wong for a while; they were friendly and Eric’s mom played xiangqi with him. He closed his eyes. Eric loosened Nathan’s ponytail and gently stroked his hair along his scalp. Nathan could feel stress flowing out of his body. It went on for quite a while, and yet the stress kept going. He had a lot of it.

Eventually, Eric finished the conversation with a “Jóu táu,” and set down the phone. “All right, food’s here in half an hour. Let’s get that movie started.”

The movie was not good. It was bad and it was amazing, but not good. The food arrived, so Eric paused it and spent a few minutes chatting with the delivery guy, who was also one of Mr. Wong’s descendants. Nathan stared at the paused screen, which was a scene of two people, one stuck in mid-yell with bulging eyes and open mouth. He imagined the man stuck yelling like that all the time: during dinner, in the bath, while gardening…

He was snickering by the time Eric finished. “What is it?” He asked, setting the bags down on the coffee table.

Nathan waved at the screen. “Just that.”

Eric glanced at it. “You sure you’re awake?”

“Eating will wake me up.”

Eric looked skeptical, but dug through the bags instead of saying anything. “Ooh, looks like we got some sweet pastries.”

“Well, yeah, if you ordered them,” Nathan said.

“I didn’t, though. I never told you this?” Eric sat down, handing over a pair of cartons. “If I order close to the end of the day and chat with him during the order, sometimes he’ll toss in some stuff that didn’t sell and won’t keep ‘til tomorrow. I don’t ask him to, he just does it.”

“Sounds like a good deal,” Nathan said. “You spend time with a lonely old man, and you get benefits for it.” He frowned. “That sounded weird out loud. Did that sound weird to you?”

Eric raised his eyebrows and reached into the bag. “Sounds like you’re saying that I’m...” He pulled out a wonton. “A little wanton.”

Nathan snorted in laughter. “That’s not funny. That’s a terrible pun. That’s not…” He dissolved into giggles.

“Well, I had to. It was the perfect setup. Here.” He handed over the wonton. “It’s cream cheese, no pork or seafood.”

“Thanks,” Nathan said, accepting it. “You ordered this for yourself, though, didn’t you? Why didn’t you get pork?”

Eric shrugged. “Why would I want to defile you with my pork breath? There are so many better ways to do that.” He waggled his eyebrows.