The next day, Ethan took another shower, paranoid about being as clean as possible for that night, before getting dressed in a black long sleeve t-shirt and jeans, and then starting to work on dinner, which was a shepherd's pie with a flourless chocolate cake for dessert. It's not something he would have tried to make ten years ago, but living alone meant that he had to be creative about dinners or else he would eat things that were far too unhealthy, like takeout every night. He didn't want to hire a cook since it was just him and he felt weird about that.
Coco, his little, fluffy calico cat, was sitting in the arm chair in the living room, which was right next to the kitchen, watching him cook as if she was Gordon Ramsey waiting to tell him how horrible the food was. Her eyes were narrowed as she watched him, like she was personally judging every move he made.
"You don't even get to try this," Ethan said to her as if she was a person. "It has onions and garlic. You'll be getting a delectable salmon in gravy tonight, Princess."
It occurred to him now that if he had a few more cats, he might just be a crazy cat dad.
Before long, he got a text from Carter: "Done with practice, prepare to be disappointed!"
"So long as you shower, I'm unlikely to be disappointed," Ethan teased him.
"Like I said... There was zero (0) running water at the gym we practiced at. I am SOOO stinky right now!" Carter sent, "Want me to run to the fleabag and get showered before I come over? I don't know what kinda time restraints your dinner-making is under."
"It should be done in an hour, so you can if you want, or I have running water here and a rain showerhead," Ethan offered.
"I mean, you know how much us... dark folk smell when we sweat!" Carter teased.
"You can't be worse than a high school, rich, white jock, or college footballers," Ethan replied. "Oh, and I hope you aren't allergic to cats."
Then Ethan sent a photo of Coco sitting on the armchair with her judgy face as she kept looking at him. Her tail was twitching as she considered him, likely because he was looking at her but not giving her pets.
Moments later, the ring doorbell gave a chime. Just then his phone chimed. "What was your address again? This looks a little... suburban. Think the HOA will approve of the decrease in property value from me just standing on the sidewalk?"
"No HOA here. We have far more space between the houses than those neighborhoods," Ethan said. "And if anyone on the block gives you trouble, they can deal with me."
Ethan walked over to the front door after giving Coco a few pets and then opened up the door and came out onto the porch barefoot. He saw Carter straightening from an Uber with a duffel bag on his shoulder and sure enough he was dressed in his sweat-soaked practice uniform. He turned to see Ethan approaching and smiled wide, shrugging helplessly.
He looked Ethan up and down and took note of his bare feet and said, "I do like a partner to be barefoot and good in the kitchen!" as the car pulled away.
"Well you lucked out then," Ethan laughed. "I hate wearing socks at home. Come on in and I'll give you a small tour and then you can shower." As soon as they got into the living room, which was decorated in blacks, grays, and whites, Ethan motioned to the cat. "That is Coco, destroyer of arms and testicles when she decides to walk on you in your sleep. I'll give you a treat later you can give her so she will have been properly bribed."
Carter squatted down and held his hand out to Coco. She stuck her head forward, daintily sniffing at his hand for a moment before she began to lick some of the sweat off of his wrist. He scritched her behind the ear and then stood slowly so as not to disturb her. "Gotta show proper deference to the mistress of the house."
Ethan smiled at that. "Yes, it does put you in her good graces, which is important."
Ethan didn't give an entire tour yet. He explained that the basement had been renovated to be a home gym on one side and an entertainment room on the other with a bar, an air hockey table, and pool table. The kitchen and living room were all open concept, with a view into both rooms from the other. On one side of the kitchen was a room that was set up as a den with bookshelves, mostly covered in medical texts and a bathroom next to it. On the other side were two bedrooms and the master bathroom. One of the rooms Ethan had turned into a guest room, though people didn't stay often, and the other was just his bedroom, which he had decorated in blacks and reds.
Ethan admitted to Carter that he rarely had any of his casual flings over to the house, but when he had he usually took that kind of thing to the spare bedroom. The master bedroom had always generally been off limits, but when they came to the door that led into it, Ethan opened the door and let Carter go in before he followed him.
Carter made appropriately impressed noises as the tour continued but he stood agape at the master bedroom. "So, like, did you pay a gay to do this or...?"
Ethan chuckled and shook his head. "No, I did most of the decorating and placement. I also did quite a bit of manual labor to get it up to how I liked it. Some of the furniture I've collected over time, just finding things on the marketplace on social media or at antique shops."
"Boi, you been a closet case longer than you knew!" Carter joked.
Ethan looked around the room for a moment before laughing. "Yeah, I guess now that I've been looking back, there were clues here and there that I just ignored."
Carter laughed, a deep, rich sound, and said, "Lots of straight guys have an eye for design, but I'm guessing you've discovered that sexuality is a spectrum already."
