Asher turned on the PlayStation as he moved to the couch next to the blond guy with both controllers. He handed one to him, while he placed the other next to himself so he could open the bottle of tequila and pour them each a shot.

They took a shot before starting the game, and since Jeff had never played it before, Asher started it from the beginning.

“Well, that was depressing,” he commented after they watched the intro so they would know what the game’s story was. The last time he had played it with Amanda, he had not been in the room when she watched the intro, which of course annoyed her because she then had to explain some things to him, but he refused to start it over and claimed he could manage without it. 

He could not.

It Takes Two was the story of divorcing parents who argued while neither of them knew that their little daughter Rose heard everything from the window of her room. She had two dolls named after her parents, Cody and May, with which she pretended they were still together and loved each other. Then something magical happened and her parents turned into those dolls, having to work together to overcome obstacles and become human again.

“I want to be the guy,” Asher declared immediately.

“Sure.” Jeff did not have a problem with it, even though it meant they had to switch places on the couch, since the character screens were split exactly opposite to how they were sitting.

Because they both moved at the same time, the blond man’s hand accidentally landed on Asher’s thigh, where he braced himself instead of the couch, and the brunette cleared his throat when their eyes suddenly met and he realized they were closer than he had thought.

They quickly finished shifting around and both picked up their controllers. 

Before they started playing, however, Asher poured them another tequila, claiming they would need it for this game.

They began playing, figuring out what each button did, and quickly realized that even though they worked together better than the Campos siblings, it was still a challenge.

“No, no, no… I have to go first,” Asher protested after a while.

“No, I have to jump first and you have to wait for me… No, on the other side.”

They had reached the point where they talked constantly instead of making awkward small talk when they didn’t know what to say to each other. It was a miracle that none of Asher’s neighbors had started knocking on the wall to tell them to keep it down yet.

While they argued about strategy, Asher almost forgot to pour alcohol, but only almost.

“To getting through the next level.” Jeff lifted his shot glass and clinked it against Asher’s.

“To getting through the next level.”

As they kept playing and successfully got through another level, definitely not on the first try, they also started talking about things other than the game and its lore.

“I always wanted a dirt bike. My mom was strictly against it. She said I’m not responsible enough,” Asher revealed while playing and rolled his eyes.

“That sounds like something my moms would say.”

“You have two moms?” The brunette took his eyes off the screen for a few seconds and their gazes met.

“Yup.”

“That’s cool,” Asher said, turning his attention back to the game. “My mom is single, but most of the time my aunt, her sister, is at our place, so I’m constantly surrounded by women at home too.”

Gradually, they learned more and more about each other, and after a while they moved from the couch to the floor, because after several shots of tequila they felt like they needed to ground themselves, and the hard floor seemed like a better option, with their backs resting against the couch.

As the alcohol kept flowing, they were not only losing their balance, but also their inhibitions. At least Asher certainly was.

“You know. I would pick you,” he suddenly said, and this time it was Jeff who turned a confused look toward him for a few seconds before returning his attention to the game.

“What do you mean?”

“If I had to pick the most attractive guy in the room and kiss him, I would pick you.” Asher’s tone was casual, as if he had said nothing strange, and on top of that he kept playing, as if they were just having another random conversation.

The blond did not answer right away, and Asher still did not realize he had said something he maybe should not have. 

After a moment, Jeff dared to note, “Right now I’m the only guy in the room.”

“True, but the point still stands.” The brunette turned his eyes to him and their gazes met. “I think it would be hard to find a room full of guys where you wouldn’t be the most attractive one.”

While Asher kept pressing buttons without looking, Jeff let his hand rest on his knee, the controller held loosely in it, not paying attention to it. “That depends.”

“On what?” Asher frowned, not understanding, and he also suddenly stopped playing.

“If you’d be there too.”

“What?”

“If you were there, I wouldn’t stand a chance at winning.”

Maybe it was the alcohol, but suddenly the room felt a bit hotter than before. The sounds from the TV were much quieter than Jeff’s voice, although Asher was probably just imagining it, since he had shifted his full attention to him. He even focused on what he was saying so much that he watched his lips as he spoke.

Right, that was the reason.

The tenant cleared his throat and lifted his gaze back up. “I’ve never kissed a guy,” he admitted.

“Do you want to?” Jeff’s tone changed, lower — more attractive, if Asher was being honest.

“Yes.”

No more words were needed.

Jeff reacted first and shifted closer, setting his controller down on the table beside him without looking at it. Asher, on the other hand, was not quite as nonchalant, and his controller hit the floor with a loud sound. 

Neither of them let it distract them.

The blond’s lips landed on the brunette’s, and Asher did not hesitate for a second to mirror his movements, deepening a kiss he had not started but had no intention of letting end. He grabbed Jeff’s T-shirt in his hand, pulling him closer, while the other man moved his hand to his waist, slipping it under the hem of his shirt and running his thumb along his hip bone.

“It would be irresponsible to have sex when we’re both drunk,” Jeff said between kisses, while they both gasped for breath. Despite his words, neither of them pulled away, as if they were only taking a necessary pause before continuing.

“Make out then?” Asher suggested.

Instead of answering with words, Jeff pressed his lips to his again in a hungry kiss, making it clear how much he wanted him, even though he knew they would not go any further tonight.

Asher, however, clearly intended to do a bit more anyway, because after a moment he shifted his leg and, with a quick movement, changed their position so they were no longer sitting next to each other, but he moved into the other man’s lap without breaking the kiss.

For someone who had never kissed a guy before, because he had never worked up the courage, he suddenly had more than enough of it now.

“You’ve been teasing me with that shirt since I got here,” Jeff spoke as soon as he had his mouth free again.

Asher frowned in confusion and looked down, not understanding what the blond meant. Jeff decided to explain it with a practical demonstration and this time pressed his lips to the exposed collarbone revealed by the shirt’s too-wide neckline.

The brunette barely suppressed the sound clawing its way up his throat and automatically slid his fingers into the strands of ashy blond hair, tilting his head more to the side to give him more space.

He did not even realize when he had closed his eyes, until Jeff’s lips pulled away from his skin and he decided to look down to see what had happened.

“Are you sure we can’t have sex?”

Jeff first shifted his gaze somewhere behind him, probably to the half-empty bottle of tequila, before shaking his head in disagreement.

“Tomorrow.”

“You promise?”

“If you let me spend the night,” Jeff replied. Unlike Asher, he clearly didn't take it as a given.

“I didn’t think you wanted to leave.”

“I don’t,” the blond assured him, and then they took another break from talking.

It did not take long for them to move from the living room floor to Asher’s bedroom, but just as they had agreed, they did not go further than making out, even though their pants quickly started to feel tight and Jeff looked like he was reconsidering his life choices when he briefly slipped under the waistband of Asher’s sweatpants and discovered he was wearing nothing underneath.

“You’re going to be the death of me.”

His tone sounded like a whine, nothing like it had before, which brought a smile to the other man’s face.

“Fuck me first, die later.” There was an amused smile on his face, but Asher knew he could use his mouth for better things, so he quickly returned it to where it felt best. His hands were tangled in blond hair, and after more heated kisses, he dared to slide his knee into the curve of Jeff’s back, pulling him even lower against himself.

They kissed until their lips started to ache, and even then they had trouble pulling away from each other. Neither of them could blame the alcohol for it, because even after sleep overtook them and they woke up a few hours later to an overly bright morning, they remained tangled together.

Asher had his arms wrapped around Jeff all night, while the blond strands tickled his chin as the older of them slept with his head on Asher’s chest and his arms around his waist. One of Jeff’s legs was between Asher’s, so every time he moved in his sleep, his thigh brushed against a sensitive spot on the brunette’s body. He could not blame him for it, because after the blond woke up, Asher felt something pressing into his side in return.

Their position didn’t allow the tenant to closely examine the man on top of him, but he was certain he was still attracted to him, even without alcohol influencing him and with a clear mind.

The spots where their bodies touched felt hot, and though Jeff’s weight on top of him wasn’t exactly light — roughly the same as his own — Asher didn’t mind.

Now, faced with the choice of whether to make this a one-night fling or continue what they had started yesterday, he had no doubt about which option he desired.

“It’s tomorrow,” was the first thing he said when he noticed Jeff was awake.

In response, he got a laugh that was huskier than Asher remembered from the night before, so he attributed it to his morning voice. Then the blond lifted his head and he got a direct view into hazel eyes.

“Good morning.” Yup, Jeff had a morning voice that did nothing to help Asher’s morning problem.

Before the brunette could gather himself and reply in kind, Jeff lifted himself higher and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. Asher quickly realized that all the chemistry between them had not just been the result of the golden liquid the night before, and with a clear head, the other man’s kisses were even more intoxicating.

“Do you still want me to fuck you?”

Asher raised an eyebrow, as if he could not believe the other man was asking him that. “You have to, otherwise you’ll break your promise.”

While he sounded serious, the blond looked amused, but the look in his eyes made it clear he was not laughing at him — it was far too gentle for that.

“But first, water?”

Only when Jeff said it did Asher realize how dry his mouth was after all the alcohol the night before.

“Definitely.”

So they sorted out their priorities and left the warmth of the bed to find something to drink. Probably tap water again, but even that was enough.

The tequila was still on the table in the living room along with one PlayStation controller, while the other lay on the floor where Asher had dropped it. Instead of hurrying to pick it up, he stayed in the kitchen, watching from the doorway as the blond moved around his kitchen again as if it was not his first time there, but as if he belonged.

“You’re even hotter when I’m sober,” he declared, because this early in the morning he had no filter at all. Besides, it did not seem to bother Jeff.

“And your outfit is even sluttier,” the blond replied amusedly, his eyes dragging over him in detail from head to toe.

Asher looked down, not understanding what he meant. His sweatpants sat a bit lower on his hips than they should have, and his T-shirt was wrinkled and hitched up on one side where Jeff had been gripping it earlier, but Asher did not see anything slutty about it, more like a sign that he could not care less about how he looked.

“You really have no idea how handsome you are.”

While the brunette had his head lowered, Jeff had time to step closer, and only when he placed his palms on his hips did Asher lift his head again.

“I can’t stop touching you.” To emphasize his words, Jeff moved his fingers over his skin, applying gentle pressure.

“Then don’t stop.”

And he did not. In fact, that day Jeff kept his promise and even stayed over another night. And then another, until his mom called him because she needed something and he reluctantly left Asher’s apartment.

It almost seemed like that meant they would spend the night apart, but that would only have been the case if Jeff had not sent a message with his address, and so their routine changed for the next few days and they fell asleep together again, this time in his bed.

It would be crazy to talk about being addicted to each other, but Asher could not describe the feeling he had around the blond any better. Surprisingly, he was content with that, and so after the week they had spent together, he decided to take a page out of Simon’s book.

“So does this mean we’re together?” he asked one evening as they lay tangled together in bed again, this time with his head on Jeff’s chest.

“My moms already call you my boyfriend.”

“Really?” Asher lifted his head so he could look him in the eyes.

“I didn’t correct them,” Jeff admitted, tilting his head to get better access to the brunette’s lips.

“Good, I like having a hot boyfriend.”

Asher had no idea why he had ever thought relationships were complicated. This one was better than he had ever imagined. And maybe that was simply because, from the very beginning, Jeff had looked at him as if he were perfect.