Cooper scratched at his belly and let the touch shift into a lazy, ticklish brush of fingertips over skin, hair. Such a simple, silly pleasure to know the one you missed missed you. Was thinking about you. Wanted to be in your bed, like you wanted them in your bed. Had said so, voice gravelly with desire...

Cooper froze and blinked at himself in the mirror. “You fucking idiot,” he said.

He lunged for his phone and called back.

“What’s wrong?” Park asked immediately, voice tense.

“Nothing’s wrong. I just—” Cooper searched for the right words, feeling suddenly, inexplicably nervous. “Were you trying to start something? Something on the phone before? With the I’m in bed and the wish you were here and one way to relax you stuff?”

Cooper winced. Hearing it all together...yeah, okay, so he’d been distracted, all right?

He could practically hear Park smiling fondly. “Don’t worry about it.”

“I’m not worried about it,” Cooper retorted. “I just... Do you still want to? Do something? Christ, I sound like a tenth grader.” He blew out a noisy breath and sat on the upholstered bench at the end of the bed. “Do you want to get each other off over the phone?”

“Well, don’t ease me into it too subtly,” Park said wryly. Then added, “Yeah, I want to. But only if you actually want to and not just because you think I want to. ’Cause I’m fine.”

“I’m fine too. You’re fine. We’re all fine. Now that’s settled—can we do the sex now?”

Park laughed. “Okay.”

There was a long silence. Cooper fetched some lube and left it beside him on the bench for later. The silence continued. He checked the phone to make sure he hadn’t accidentally disconnected the call with all the soundless opening and closing of his mouth he was doing.

They hadn’t done this before. He felt clumsy and awkward and slightly out of sync with Park in a way they hardly ever did anymore in person. The newness of it, the unfamiliarity, had Cooper vacillating between excitement and self-consciousness.

“Are you hard?” Cooper asked finally.

At the same time Park asked, “Are you lying down?” Then, startled, added, “Whoa, okay.”

Cooper felt his cheeks heat in a way that had nothing to do with arousal. “I’m sitting,” he said quickly. “But I could move if you want. Nothing fancy. I think I pulled something lugging that artisanal vessel for your ego inside.”

“My vase came?” Park asked, sounding delighted and frustratingly adorable. “How does it look? Please tell me you didn’t fill it with umbrellas.”

“I didn’t even take it out. I haven’t taken anything out yet,” Cooper added pointedly.

“What honeyed words you whisper, Mr. Dayton.”

“I can only work with what you give me here.”

“And what is it exactly that you want me to give you?” Park teased.