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CHASING
DAVE
Adam knew that pledging to DOG had been a bad idea, and the soft line of Dave's jaw when he slams the door behind him tells him he was right.
It's quiet in the room, and Adam doesn't speak when Dave slumps down next to him, jacket pulling up around his shoulders so Adam can't see his face.
Adam watches the blank TV screen for a minute. Their reflections sit mutely on the sofa, with a gap between them that feels wider than it looks.
Then, when he hears a wet snuffling sound underneath the silence, he asks, "Girl?"
There's only more quiet as his answer, but Dave-in-the-TV nods his head, once.
Adam feels bad suddenly; guilt in his stomach like too much cold water on hung over mornings. Guilty because he didn't like Leah, and Dave knows it, and now she's gone and how is Adam supposed to comfort him when the thing that's making Dave cry is the thing they both know Adam wanted all along?
"I'm sorry," he says out loud, and he's surprised to find he means it.
Dave doesn't seem so convinced, because he lets out a sound like an angry laugh, and shrugs his jacket up even further around his face.
Adam watches Dave-in-the-TV until the light has faded and he can't see the screen anymore.
***
Dave moves back into the house, which surprises everyone; and into Adam's room, which doesn't surprise anyone at all.
"But Adam, man," slurs Doofer, resting his beer on top of the homework he's actually doing for once, "Isn't the best part of being President that you don't have to share your room anymore?"
Adam spins round in Doofer's desk chair so he won't have to put on the right expression, and changes the subject.
***
It's Thursday, which means movies and junk food, and Dave went through a disturbing phase of drinking wine but he's back on the beer now, and all in all it feels like nothing ever changed between them.
Except - there's no Doofer, because Doofer's over at DOG shaving his girlfriend - and oh, God, Adam wishes he didn't know that wasn't a joke - so there doesn't seem any point in pulling the sofa over from the side of the room.
Instead Dave is sprawled on Adam's bed, throwing cheetos into the air and catching every one, which is something Adam's never been able to do. Just like he can't charm women over the age of twenty-four, or make his hair do anything other than what it wanted to do in the first place, or walk in high heels.
Dave can do all of those things, but right now he seems content to lie on the bed (in bed) with Adam, laughing at the jokes in a movie they've seen a million times until suddenly the bed shakes and Dave's choking on a piece of popcorn.
Adam thumps his back, and rubs in circles over Dave's T-shirt when he can breathe again. "Okay?"
Dave nods, and coughs again, peeking over his shoulder at Adam with amused runny eyes. "Yeah. Thanks, man."
"No problem," says Adam, and leans back against his pillow.
Dave throws another kernel of popcorn into the air, and when he tilts his head back his hair brushes Adam's fingers.
Adam pulls his hand away from Dave's neck, and hopes Dave hadn't noticed it was still there.
***
Time passes, and one day Adam opens his door to find Dave already lying on his bed, grinning at him and waving a box.
"Come on, man!" he says, beckoning, and Adam goes because he always does what Dave tells him. "I love this movie!"
It's some flick by the guy who made Mallrats, only there's less dick and fart jokes and a whole lot more stuff that's uncomfortably close to home.
There's a guy falling in love with some chick he shouldn't, and another guy, the best friend guy, who forms a deep and immediate hatred for her and it's obvious to Adam what's going on here. But, Dave thinks he's being subtle, thinks they need to watch this so Adam does, because Adam always does what Dave thinks is best.
Later on, the guys in the TV kiss and yell and cry and stamp, while Adam lays his head down on Dave's damp, flushed chest and listens to his heartbeat slow.
***
Adam knew that pledging to DOG had been a bad idea.
He knew he wasn't going to get anything out of it. And Adam's always been about taking everything he can.
Doofer found a reason to get up in the morning, and a reason not to drink himself to sleep at night.
Dave fell in love.
Adam was left with secrets he never knew he had, and didn't understand, and didn't want, and couldn't deal with.
Then Dave fell out of love with Leah, and into bed with Adam, and every night Adam falls asleep wondering if tomorrow will be the day somebody finds out that only one bed gets used in the KOK president's room. The day somebody figures out why there are no girls tip toeing through Adam's door on sore feet and stilettos, clutching their handbags and their dignity and squinting at the morning through last night's mascara.
Or the day Dave tells Adam he's getting engaged, or Adam's mother calls and says they have a nice girl they want him to meet, a girl with connections and family and child bearing hips.
Then Adam closes his eyes, and presses his cheek against Dave's shoulder, and tries not to think about tomorrow.
Adam's always been about taking what he can get.
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