still, he’d go unnoticed. This was the third time Hyde mentioned he found Jason attractive, and it was slowly growing on Jason, even when said in front of Hyde’s wife. “Sorry, I’m intruding,” he muttered. “I told him I could stay in a hotel.”
There was a rumble of stampeding steps on the stairs, and a female voice called out, “Honey, did you see my cell phone? Can anyone call me?” A pretty Asian woman with twin buns on top of her head and deep purple lipstick stormed into the kitchen, slowing down when she spotted Jason. Her eyes alternated between the other people in the room, and just when Jason felt he’d die of tension, Hyde stepped in.
“Don’t worry, he’s gay, too.”
Jason took a step back, and then another, his brain coming to a complete standstill. “What…? What?” he hissed. “The fuck?” His stomach clenched so hard it hurt.
Hyde rolled his eyes. “Relax. You’re in a very gay house. I think only Heidi and Cody swing the other way, though you can never know,” he said casually, as his wife gave the other woman a kiss.
Jason clenched his hands on his nape, which only reminded him of the fucking collar. His body flushed with heat and cold all at once. Hyde’s wife had a girlfriend? “I… this is n-not on.” Great, he actually began to stutter.
The Asian woman smiled at him. “Hi, I’m Beth. Are you Hyde’s new boyfriend?” she asked, playfully wiggling her eyebrows.
Seeing Hyde nod made Jason close his mouth.
Amanda smiled his way. “Good for you! You want your pancakes with bacon?”
“More like prisoner,” Jason said, and Beth laughed out loud.
“God! Tell me about it.” She grabbed a piece of bacon and rushed out of the kitchen. “I’ll get Cody.”
“Boyfriend?” Jason mouthed to Hyde with a frown.
Hyde stepped close enough for their shoulders to touch. “I did bring you home,” he whispered and walked off to open a can and deposit the meat in a doggie bowl. Heidi kept brushing against his legs like a cat. He put it in front of her.
“Hello?” Amanda raised her eyebrows. “How do you take your pancakes?”
Jason bit his lips, smothered with more kindness than his body could take. “With maple syrup…?” Was he being needy? Was it too much to ask? Would she hate him? He hugged his own arm. A part of him knew that this had to be a trap, and the AK-47s were coming out any second. Or he would wake up. And… Hyde was gay? Like gay gay? Which meant that he was actually kind of available? Jason couldn’t help but glance at Hyde.
Amanda smiled at him. “Why don’t you set the table?” She then showed him where the plates and cutlery were, completely unbothered that her husband had a guy on the side.
Jason took extra care with setting the table, worried he’d fuck something up. Never in his life had he eaten in a house like this one. People living here seemed so… nice to each other. Somehow, it made Jason feel all the more miserable about his own life. About not getting breakfast as a kid. No one ever bothered making him lunch for school, or ironing his T-shirt. And this couldn’t just be some messed-up elaborate scheme by Hyde. This was his life. Jason would cut off his own finger to be a part of it.
He was checking whether the cutlery was straight enough for this picture-perfect family when he heard Hyde laugh in the kitchen.
“You’re wearing your T-shirt backwards! The dragon belongs in the front,” he said to a small dark-haired boy, who looked nothing like Hyde and seemed to have taken all of his looks after his mother.
Beth poured four cups of coffee and stirred cocoa in a colorful mug, before coming over with the tray of beverages. “Made one for you as well.”
“Thank you.” Jason dared to smile, and they all sat down to breakfast, looking like a family-friendly cereal commercial. Hyde kept cracking jokes with his kid, Beth and Amanda talked about their upcoming day over pancakes, Heidi brushed against Jason’s knees, and
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