" and if i only could, i’d make a deal with god [ . . . ] and i’d get him to swap our places. " ©

“Murray, what are you doing here?.” Joyce asked with a friendly smile

“Hi, Joyce.” Murray entered the house, not even bothering to wait for her to invite him in. They were friends, right? “I would’ve called, but I couldn’t risk it being tracked.” He looked her in the eyes, his expression deadly serious for once. “People are after me. I had to leave.”

“You heard me.” His tone was firm and even as he pointed towards the door, his hand noticeably SHAKING. His head ached like a bitch. What was wrong with him? “Come back tomorrow. Go get some rest and let me SLEEP for once.”

He continued to stare at the ceiling, not even looking at her. “I need to sleep. Take the guest room — or the pullout. I don’t give a shit.” He finally moved his exhausted gaze back to Nancy. “DON’T DISTURB ME for the next twelve hours. Got it?”

Okay so maybe….Maybe he’d been rambling on and on, and mostly nonsense, for the past few minutes…but that was only because he was kind of desperate for someone to understand him. He really didn’t know why the hell the guys had chosen him to get help…”But—’ Releasing a frustrated huff, he just grabbed Murray’s hand and started pulling him along.

“Remind me, Murray - who was it who had to kiss you first to get you to do anything about it?”

“Oh, SPARE ME the details! I flirted with you first.”

THE TOUCH WAS MET with a small squeeze of Dmitri’s own fingers against Murray’s, blue eyes catching the beautiful smile that he’d been aiming to see. Of course, at the final comment, his own faded just enough for a scowl to peak through. “Must you use that word? Cute? I’m too old for cute, любовь.”

“MY DEEPEST APOLOGIES, my dear Dmitri.” Murray smiled and squeezed his hand once more. “You are not too old for cute — but if you’d prefer милый, I can use that instead.” He winked, knowing damn well the word was very similar — if not identical — to the word cute.

The anger dissipated a little at that, a small smile blossoming just a little. Granted, it was short lived at the final question. “Murray, can we tell them together? Rather than you broadcasting… THAT?”

HE NOTICED THE SMILE and instantly smiled back — a more genuine grin than the mischievous one before. “Of course we can.” He intertwined his fingers with Dmitri’s, though after a moment, he smirked again. “I will reintroduce you to them as my cute, loving boyfriend.”