Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 8

With anyone else he might have felt strange, sleeping in their room before they'd even really had a conversation… but Peter was different. He'd known Peter for years, albeit at a distance. Peter was the reason Hinata had chosen to come to this school. He was the reason Hinata had decided to study sports medicine, and so changed nearly all his courses. Hinata hired a physical therapist to help him at the studio, designing dance classes that would help athletes regain and maintain their peak physical prowess.
    He was going to need the business when his mother cut him off for no longer bowing to her dictates. Hinata shivered one last time, though this one came from a very different place in his psyche than the preceding ones. He eased up to his feet, still stretching as he went. He'd have time to go and see Peter before classes this morning if he hurried, but then he didn't have a single moment free until next Tuesday. He hurried into the bathroom to get ready for the day.
    Andre had clearly been up for some time already, as Hinata found a clean outfit for the day hanging from the back of the door leading from Peter's bedroom to the en suite bath. He hopped in the shower, scrubbed off quickly and gave himself a cursory drying with one of the tiny white towels laid out on the bathroom counter. How could such large men be satisfied drying themselves with such small scraps of toweling? Hinata shook his head. He was half their size, and every towel in his bathroom was easily three times the size and four times as plush as the towels in Peter and his cousin's bathroom.
    When— if Peter was his, Hinata would buy him large bath-sheets. His mind spun out along elaborate loops of circumstance, all the things they might do in a day together running one after another through his head. If Hinata's wish came true, and they got together, they'd keep a few of the thin white barely bigger than hand-towel things for when Hinata and Peter showered together. After all, there was definitely something to be said for watching a particularly hot man walk across a room clad in only a tiny, thin white towel with water still running down his chest. Oh, yes. The little towels were definitely on his 'to keep' list. Hinata sighed as he looked at the lovely, threadbare things resting on the too narrow countertop.
    In Hinata's search for Peter yesterday, he'd come upon the information that neither of Peter's parents worked for Kenkyusha Corporation any longer. Nor did they work for any of its subsidiary companies. While the reason was tragic, and Hinata's heart hurt for Peter— he would surely be lost without his own father's quiet and easy guidance— he couldn't suppress a small sliver of himself from feeling fiercely glad to have the largest obstacle to winning Peter removed. His mother could no longer directly influence the livelihood of Peter's family. Now he only needed to find a way past the awkwardness of this first encounter where they both were conscious, and just maybe he could win his way to Peter's side as more than a curiosity from his past.
    CHAPTER 10
    The doc turned out to be a darn site younger than Peter had expected, and hot as hell to boot. Tater's words about the way Peter looked at Hinata had shaken something loose inside Peter. Everything felt new, different somehow, and more than a touch uncomfortable. It was like a new pair of boots that you knew darn well were gonna be your favorites once you got them broke in, but for now were stiff and uncomfortable. Peter had metaphorical blisters all over, and he suspected it was gonna get worse before it got better.
    When the doctor came in, Peter opened his mouth to tell the man he was ready to go home. Somewhere between his brain and his mouth the words got tangled up though, and what came out of his traitorous lips had little resemblance to the comment his brain had stamped approval to.
    "I thought doctors were only so good-looking on television shows and movies. In real life aren't y'all supposed to be old, or tired looking, or just plain homely? It don't rightly seem fair to have such a pretty face and an M.D. tacked after your name too." Peter's hand flew up to cover his gaping pie-hole at that point, but the words were already out there, circling the room like hungry buzzards. Tater guffawed, and the doctor, after a moment of startled silence, joined in. The man's caramel coated laugh rolled over Peter in a wash of smooth tenor notes.
    "I'm glad to see you're feeling quite a