Ambrose finally slept after that—and the day after that, and the day after that. Eli tried to keep his Ambrose check-ins casual, spread out. Not bother anyone too much.

“Hey, Sherry—“

“Eli, if you ask me if he’s awake one more time, I will slip a sedative into your coffee.”

Eli swung out of the kitchen as quickly as he had entered. “Sorry, sorry.”

If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, the team’s attention seemed to go both ways. Sherry suddenly had the pantry stocked with both hot cocoa and his favorite chips. Earlier that morning, Banneker had let him win not one, but two games, until Grim decided to sit down and invite Eli to watch soccer with them.

Now, Eli found himself wearing flannel, standing in a smoke-wreathed dive bar, and making up an anti-billiards game that pleased Banneker, amused Grim, and horrified Sherry.

He supposed he was part of the team now.

“So if you scratch,” he said, “that’s…twenty points?”

Banneker nodded, tossing his pool stick from hand to hand. “And if you get a striped ball in the hole thing…”

“Pocket.”

“That’s minus five.”

Sherry slouched and set aside her pool stick. “I’m getting another beer.”

They continued with their anti-game for another round, where Banneker still managed to lose despite the new rules. As Eli passed him the cue chalk and drained the rest of his beer, a buzz sounded from Grim’s pocket. They pulled out their phone and wandered off to the corner.

“Hey,” they muttered. Eli pressed his lips into a line. Typical Grim—completely vague greeting, with zero information for him to pull on. He settled for watching their movements instead, trying to suss out who was on the other end of the line. Maybe Ambrose had woken up while they were out, wondered where they were.

He didn’t have to speculate for long. A minute later, Grim shuffled back to the pool table and handed the phone to him. “For you.”

Eli frowned and took the phone. “Hello?”

“Hey, Valenz.”

A silly grin broke out on his face. “Kerighin! How are—?” A burst of laughter from a group at the bar smothered his question. “Hold on, hold on…”

As he made his way out of the bar, he glanced back at Grim, and found their gaze surprisingly warm.

“Hey, not that I don’t love hearing your voice, but…” Eli sat down on a sticky bench outside the entrance, in the liminal space of parking lots and fireflies. “Did Grim ask you to call?”

“No!” A pause, then a sigh. “Yeah, they did. Said the past few days have been a little rough, thought you might appreciate it.”

Eli smiled as he toed the weeds growing through the concrete. “I do appreciate it, thanks.”

“You wanna talk about anything?”

“Not really.” He leaned back on the bench. “Tell me about your new place, how do you like it?”

“It’s good.” She tried to sound casual, but something in her voice sparkled. “There’s this cute girl who lives a floor below me...”

Eli laughed. “I knew it. When’d you get her number?”

“Yesterday.”

“Really?”

They continued back and forth for a long while. Eli stretched out on the bench, happy to let her talk about her apartment, her college applications, the little beach she had found last weekend…

“Can’t wait to check it out,” he murmured, tapping the weathered wood by his leg.

“You think it’ll be soon?” Dawn asked.

“I don’t know, I…” He glanced back at the bar. “They keep mentioning an end of some kind. I don’t know what that means, but…yeah, I think it’ll be soon.”

“Good.”

The bar entrance swung open, letting Grim, Sherry, Banneker, and the trailing scent of beer and cigars into the night. Seeing that Eli was still on the phone, Grim waved the other two to the car, then hung back on the sidewalk. Eli nodded to them and took a breath to start his goodbyes, but Dawn had one more question left.

“So…” She paused for dramatic effect, and Eli could almost hear the grin stretching across her face. “How’s your blue boy?”

Eli blushed and quickly turned away from Grim. “He’s not my blue boy—“

“Damn, still?” She laughed. “Man, you gotta make a move!”

“I don’t—,” Eli glanced back over at Grim, and found them staring at him. “He’s a friend, we’re friends.”

“Oh, shut up.”

“You shut up!”

More laughter pierced the phone. Eli bit his lip. He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t been wrestling with the word friend for days. He would’ve done the exact same thing that night if it had been Dawn taking the neutralizer. He would’ve.

But that didn’t explain why his mind kept circling back to Ambrose’s breath on his neck, his weight on his chest. How the feeling of it had burned against his skin long after he had left the room.

Eli ran a hand through his hair, his face heating up again at the thoughts. “Hey, I actually gotta go, the flannel brigade’s waiting for me.”

“All right. Stay safe, Valenz.”

“You, too.”

He tossed the phone back to Grim, who pocketed it with the tiniest of smiles on their face. “Doing okay?”

Eli set his hands on his hips, avoiding their gaze. “Yeah, she sounds good.”

“I meant you.”

“Oh, um.” Eli swallowed, desperately hoping the dingy light from the bar didn’t catch how red his cheeks felt. “I’m good.”

Grim stared at him for a moment, then jerked their head towards the car. “Come on. Let’s go before Banneker realizes I found the energy drink he tried to hide in the car.”