Connected To Him (ManxMan)

Part 2: Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Agree to Disagree

Clark ran through his mental checklist, making sure he had everything he needed for work. Wallet? Check. Keys? Check. Appropriate but cute business attire?

He looked at his reflection in the floor-length mirror on the far side of his room, turning to check how his butt looked in his slacks.

Check.

Clark maybe cared too much about his appearance at times. The matching grey pants and vest over a white dress shirt were a bit much but incredibly cute. As his boyfriend, Santiago got the benefit of seeing the outfit Clark put together when they meet up later today.

Leaving his room, Clark found Ethan on his laptop at the dining table, typing away. He was hunched over the small device, eyes skirting across the screen with rapt attention.

"Watchya doin'?" Clark asked, coming around to stand behind his roommate. "Looks important."

Ethan glanced at Clark for a moment, cracked a smile, then got back to business.

"Trying to create a recommendation for a butcher's shop."

"Ooh."

"Yeah, fancy," Ethan joked with a chuckle. "I usually wouldn't be doing this at home but I've been working on the magazine for ages. It leaves me so little time for my other projects."

"Oh yeah, it's your day off," Clark said more to himself than anything. "Are you just going to chill at home?"

Ethan sighed. Clark's talking was making it harder for him to focus on his work but he reclaimed his patience and answered.

"No, I have plans."

"With the group?"

"With Chris."

"A date?" Clark gasped. His mouth twisted up into a smile and he poked Ethan excitedly. "Oh my god, why didn't you tell me you had a date?"

"Not a date," The older man groaned, pausing his work to turn to his younger friend, "we're just friends watching the new Marvel movie and eating some Korean food afterward. Not a big deal."

"I don't know. Dinner and a movie sound pretty date-like."

Clark watched as Ethan crossed his arms over his chest, a glare on his face. If Clark had made this joke about any other guy Ethan would have played along, or at least not be so hell-bent on proving their friendship. He was being shown once again how Ethan saw Chris differently from everyone else. After months of brunches and dinner parties, Clark had begun to assume that Chris was like any other friend Ethan had.

He was wrong.

Sighing, Clark placed a hand on Ethan's shoulder.

"I was just kidding," He whispered. At the sight of the soft smile on Clark's face, Ethan began to crack a smile. "You know I'm a romantic at heart."

"And spirit," Ethan tagged on with a laugh,  "And mind and soul."

Ethan continued to laugh even as Clark began smacking him. Even as he was pulled away from his work, he still played around with Clark. The faux wrestling was strange with Ethan sitting in his seat yet it continued for a minute or so. After a while, Clark was forced to start heading out. Meaghan was a nice boss, especially since they're friends, but abusing that pull would look bad at the office.

Waving him off, Ethan watched Clark leave for work. He turned to his laptop, ready to get back to work, but paused. An image of his hand wrapping around Chris's from across the dinner table came to mind. The scene pans up to show an adult Chris smiling adoringly at Ethan. With a start, Ethan comes out of the daydream and tried to get back to work.