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As they all finished eating, Trevor stuck his hand right into the half-melted cake, scooped some of it up, and smeared it across Skyler’s face. Skyler’s eyes widened in shock, but then he laughed so hard he snorted, a bit of frosting going up his nose.

“Oh, come on,” Noah admonished. “You’re ruining a perfectly good cake.”

Trevor gave him a look, then swiped one finger through the mess on Skyler’s cheek, brought the finger up to his mouth, and slowly sucked it clean.Despite the cold ice cream on his face, Trevor’s heated stare had Skyler burning up. Then Trevor shot his eyes back to Noah and said, “Nope. Still tastes good.”

“You’re so gross,” Noah said, but he cracked a smile.

Trevor turned back to Skyler. “I’ll help you clean it off.” He took Skyler’s hand with his clean one and led him toward the downstairs bathroom.

“Be sure to clean it off with your tongue!” Oli yelled after them.

Trevor flipped him off over his shoulder. It probably would have been more effective if his finger wasn’t blue.

Once they were in the bathroom with the door closed, Skyler couldn’t stop smiling. His face was a sticky mess, but everything was perfect.

Pointing at the closed toilet seat, Trevor said, “Sit.”

Skyler only barely managed not to joke, “Yes, daddy.” He was a teenage guy with a dirty mind, so sue him.

Trevor washed his hands and then wet a washcloth before bringing it to Skyler’s face and carefully starting to wipe him off. He wrung the washcloth out under the running water, but this time when he brought it back toward Skyler’s face, he stopped, contemplating him a moment. Anticipation buzzed through Skyler’s body.

Slowly, painfully slowly, Trevor leaned down. His eyes flicked briefly to Skyler’s lips.

Skyler’s heart raced. Each microscopic movement Trevor made felt like a jolt. Trevor’s lip quirked up the tiniest bit, and Skyler was going to fall off the toilet seat for how badly he wanted to jump forward to close the distance between them.

Then Trevor turned his head slightly as he stuck out his tongue and licked a purposeful stripe up Skyler’s cheek, lapping up frosting.

Their eyes met again when he moved back, and with all the electricity crackling around the room, Skyler was surprised the lights didn’t flicker. He found himself starting to lean back in, but then Trevor stepped away and laughed it off before using the washcloth to quickly clean the rest of the mess on Skyler’s face.

He wanted to cry, but he played it off too. He was starting to wonder if Trevor didn’t feel the same about him as he felt about Trevor. For all he knew, Trevor could be equally as sweet and cuddly with all his friends. Despite how close they’d gotten, Skyler didn’t actually know him that well.

Except. It really, really felt like he did. Even though they’d only met a few months ago, it was like they understood things about each other without having to say anything.

But now he wanted to say something. He just wasn’t sure what.

So he said nothing as he and Trevor rejoined the guys. And when Oli caught his eye behind Trevor’s back and made a kissing face, he ignored him. The guys might think they spent the times they were alone with each other kissing—and despite what Maggie had said, he didn’t think they cared that much—but it wasn’t true.

Un-freaking-fortunately.

They were just friends who slept in the same bed spooning. It made perfect sense. Of course it did.

Later, when he andTrevor were on Trevor’s bed looking for something to watch, both slouching down with their knees bent and angled to rest against each other’s, Skyler was still trying to convince himself that the way they acted was normal friends-like behavior. He didn’t want to make things weird if this was all nothing more than wishful thinking on his part.

No matter what, he couldn’t lose the late-night conversations and the cuddles. Because this was the longest he’d been away from his family, and so much was happening, and through it all, Trevor had been his person. He got along great with all the other guys, but Trevor was the one person he could tell anything to without any fear of being judged.

So. They were friends. That was all.

When Trevor shot down his suggestion of an old Katherine Heigl movie and then suggested a ridiculous looking action one, Skyler rolled his eyes. “Okay, would you stop trying to act like you’re cooler than me?”

“I’m not acting like that,” Trevor said, looking genuinely concerned.

He reached over and tugged Trevor’s earlobe. “I’m teasing. But seriously. You can’t be telling me the only stuff you like is stuff where people get murdered or blow shit up. I know there’s more to you than that.”

“That’s not all I like.”

“Great, so what else then?”

Trevor shuffled so he was sitting up more. His knees no longer rested against Skyler’s, but the two of them were still close enough that Skyler could feel the heat from his body and smell his cologne. It was distracting enough that he didn’t catch it when Trevor mumbled something.