When Leroy got the text, he simply hummed to himself and put his phone away before turning in his bed and going to bed.

     The text was nice, but Leroy had been planning to head over to Zachary's place regardless—he'd been planning to since the middle of the week. He'd just asked out of the blue because heading over and hanging out on the lawn wasn't the same as visitation rights to go inside the house. He hadn't been inside Zach's place since the last time he was invited in, even though sometimes he would stroll out onto the porch so that they could talk or at least exchange looks as Leroy pet whatever cat that had made it a mission to ingest grass that day.

     The night went by, and Leroy woke up a little past nine in the morning the following day to the sound of his sister laughing her ass off from the living room. He sat up, frowning a bit before pushing the hair away from his eyes and forehead. He got up, put on his inside slides, and grabbed his phone before making his way to the living room to see what in the world was going on.

     On his way, he scrolled through text messages, PlayStation alerts, and a few tags he'd gotten on Discord. His Pathfinder group wanted to video chat tomorrow for a game, and he noticed a text Zach had sent early in the morning buried under the hip of notifications. The older man had asked him what he wanted to do when he came over, and what time he saw himself getting there. Leroy tilted his head a bit, quickly drafting a text that stated he'd be there at around twelve in the afternoon and they could watch a movie, before tucking his phone into the pocket of his pajama pants. When he strolled into the living room, he noticed his sister was sprawled on the couch with her phone pressed against her ear. She had the widest grin on her face—it almost looked painful.

     The television wasn't on like Leroy had been expecting. The noise was coming solely from his sister, and just as he wandered off to the empty one-seater to take a seat, his sister let out another string of giggles that made him roll his eyes. Gosh, she had the ugliest laugh, but whoever was on the other end didn't seem to mind. In fact, they seemed to be actively encouraging it.

     "It can't be that funny," he mumbled, and his sister looked up, sticking a tongue at him before going back to giggling at whatever the person on the other end was telling her.

     Leroy sat there and scrolled through his phone, occasionally looking at his sister who was all smiles and grins.

     A new boyfriend? He wondered, raising a brow at her. Well good for her. He told himself, getting off the couch when he realized he desperately needed something to munch on. His mother wasn't awake yet, which was a relief. Leroy could confidently avoid her most of the time except when she woke up for breakfast or dinner.

     He didn't want to see her today.

     He didn't want to ruin his mood before he went off to meet Zachary. It wouldn't be fair to the older man. He knew how stressed out and irritable he was after a crappy interaction with his mother.

     He spent the next few hours looking forward to seeing Zachary, and when it was eleven-forty, he made his way out of the house and began his walk to the older man's place.

     When Leroy walked up to the familiar house with the signature tall grass. He hopped over the fence, walking up to the porch stairs before looking around for DeDe, the black cat that was often squished somewhere under the stairs, when he didn't find her after a few minutes he walked up the stairs and over to the door before knocking.

     Usually, Zach would open the door after the first few knocks, but this time that didn't happen. Leroy knocked a few times, and then again, and some more when he still didn't get a response. He frowned, starting to wonder if he maybe misread the date in the text. It had definitely been Saturday. Was Zach out? No, he was sure he'd mentioned he was coming over at twelve in the afternoon.

     So, he knocked again.

     And this time someone groaned from the other end. The sound of footsteps became loud and then dull and then loud again. He heard the sound of cutlery, and soon after the knob on the door twisted.

     Leroy stepped back and the door opened to reveal someone who was definitely not Zachary.

"Well, are you coming in?" The lady who'd opened the door said, as he looked him up and down. "Zach's in his room. I'm cleaning up before I head out."

     It took a while for Leroy to compute that this was Zachary's sister. They didn't look anything alike. It seemed odd to say, but that was the case. Well, for instance, she was black, and Zach was not. Or maybe he was? What the fuck did Leroy's ass know?

     "Oh, thank you," he mumbled when he snapped out of his mini-shock. He walked into the house, tucking his hands into his pockets before looking around.

     "You know where his room is, right?" The woman asked, making Leroy look over at her again. She was at the kitchen counter now, going through food prep bowls.

     He nodded. "Yeah, I've been here before," he said more to himself before wandering into the hallway. He spotted a cat or two that quickly scurried away as he approached Zach's bedroom door. He stopped in front of it, knocking before waiting in silence.

     "Leroy?"

     Leroy could hear Zack say from the other end. "Yeah, it's me," the younger man said, turning the knob of the door before walking in.

     Leroy wasn't sure what he'd expected, but not exactly what he saw. It was a small room with a double bed pushed against the wall. There was a study table that was pressed against the bed's lower edge with a chair on the other side, but it seemed that Zach used it from the bed, for the most part, judging from what direction the stack of books and the laptop was facing. The room smelled strongly of medical-grade pain relief cream and a hint of candles and essential oils.

     "Hey," Zach said, making Leroy turn his gaze toward him. There was a small smile on the older man's face—a bit unsure—maybe nervous.

     "Hey," Leroy said, walking over to the chair propped on the other side of the desk before sitting down. He had wanted to sit beside Zach on the bed, but he'd come to the conclusion that it would be a little weird. Also, there was a cat right next to him, and the cat wouldn't take too kindly to Leroy moving it out of the way.

     There was silence after that, with none of them saying much but random pleasantries. Leroy had asked about Zach's sister, and the older man had confirmed that, yes, that was in fact his sister before asking Leroy how his night was. The younger man had shrugged, mumbling, "good" under his breath, and just like that the silence returned.

     They sat there awkwardly, both occasionally looking at their phones in between the odd staring contest they had established.

     "Erm, you said you wanted to watch a movie," Zach said after a while of awkward silence. "I wasn't sure what to pick but I do have Netflix," he muttered, reaching for the laptop on the table before flipping it open. He was on it for a bit, before flipping it to face Leroy. "Whatever you want to watch. I don't mind," he added, giving Leroy another awkward smile before picking up his phone.

     "Sorry about the smell if it bothers you," Zach said, making Leroy look up from his phone. The two locked eyes for a bit, before Zach, blinked and moved his gaze to the bedside table with a humidifier. "I know it's strong, but it helps."

     "It's okay," Leroy said, smiling a little, and Zach gave him an awkward smile back.

     "So, do you want anything? A drink? A snack?" Zach asked, moving to get off his bed. Leroy noticed his little wobble, but the older man didn't make a fuss about it. "I'm sure Avery has some Diet Coke in there somewhere."

     Leroy chuckled. "I'll have Diet Coke, sure."

     "Okay, I'll be back in a bit. Maybe find a movie before I get back." Leroy nodded, watching Zach slip out of the room before he turned to the screen of the laptop in front of him. Just like Zach's phone, the laptop was questionably ancient with its compact keyboard and clunky mouse pad, though the software was updated.

     Leroy scrolled through Netflix, looking for something they could watch together. They generally had the same taste, so he didn't have to compromise as he did with his sisters or friends when they had video-call movie nights. As he was scrolling, he noticed the 'continue watching' tab and raised a brow at the shows he saw.

     Err, there wasn't really any other way to put it besides that he noticed that they were a bit... a bit gay. One show was a shrug worthy, two a coincidence, but every single show with maybe two not being a bit gay was pushing the whole 'probability' thing he'd been going with was starting to push it.

     He took in a deep breath, debating whether he should just ignore the whole thing and keep scrolling for movies, but his curiosity got the better of him and soon he had clicked Zachary's Netflix list, noticing the pattern of shows and documentaries he'd liked to watch. Sure, they were in the same genre he liked as well, but Zach had conveniently omitted that—well—he was really into gay media.

     He's gay.

     Leroy felt the words buzz like white noise in his ears. He wasn't sure why he felt stunned and a little self-conscious. He had gay friends—he'd had them for years but learning that Zach was potentially gay made him feel awkward and a bit self-conscious. Despite this mix of emotions, Leroy couldn't stop himself from snooping. He opened up another tab and quietly went through Zach's bookmarks. Most of them were innocent but some of them made him blush a little too hard.

     "Fuck," Leroy cursed under his breath, closing the new tab before returning to the one with Netflix opened. "I shouldn't," he sighed, forcing himself to stick to what he was originally told to do—find a movie. He settled on 'The Colony" and sat still for Zach's return.

     It's okay. He told himself, nibbling on his bottom lip. Zach was gay, and so what? The man had always been respectful, hadn't come on to him, and seemed to keep it to himself quite successfully. Zach didn't seem interested in him, and their friendship had worked up until now, so it would keep working with or without the knowledge of his sexuality.

     Leroy nodded to himself, affirming all his internal statements, but he couldn't quite rub off the fact that he felt a tad disappointed. Maybe he was a little upset that Zach didn't trust him enough to tell him.

     It was definitely more complicated than that.

     In the rawest of terms, it was upsetting that Zach didn't want him. Whatever the fuck that actually meant. Leroy had no clue it just felt bad.