Free Shiny! by Amy Lane Page A

“Yeah, this one was designed with love,” he said gently, and the waves of joy emanating from Will’s big body almost stopped his breath. Wow. A little bit of praise, a little bit of good feeling—this guy was a force to be reckoned with.
    “Yeah. Aunt Cara’s something else. She’s one of those women who just… like, when I was telling her I wanted to get my teaching credential, she was like, ‘They’ll chew you up and spit you out—and then you’ll conquer them like a champion. It’ll be fucking glorious. I want a ticket to that show!’”
    “Did they?” Kenny asked, suddenly captivated. “I used to be horrible to my teachers.”
    “Well, yeah!” Will nodded. “I mean, I’m a walking fifth-grade joke, right? I knew that going in. But it was worth it. Once they knew me, most of the kids jumped right on board. Sometimes you just need a someone to tell you you’re doing a good job, even if it’s a big goofy someone who tends to sit in gum.”
    “They put gum on your chair?”
    Will sighed. “I went through a lot of cords in my first year, yeah.”
    Kenny felt an absurd little wound. “You knew? You knew it would be hard before you did it?”
    “Oh yeah!” Will looked surprised. “You’ve never done anything that you knew was going to be hard but worth it?”
    “No,” Kenny said, abruptly tired. He looked at Will’s computer again. “No. But your web designs are worth it. Are you going to go back to teaching?”
    “Hmm….” Will closed his laptop again and put it into the case on the floor. Princess was sprawled next to it, trying to be a big fluffy pain in the ass, and without a hello or how are you, Will picked her up. Kenny was about to caution him, because she was sort of a diva, but before he could say anything, the cat was sprawled on his chest, licking his face. Bitch. He’d had fantasies….
    “That wasn’t an answer,” Kenny said, pulling his drunken brain out of the pickle jar.
    “I was just thinking,” Will said, sighing softly. “I have a sub job tomorrow in the Grant district. I’ve got to remember to put on my armor, you know? The last time I subbed a middle school there, I caught a math book in the face.”
    “Jesus fucking Christ!”
    Will pulled back a grimace. “Well, you know, not everyone’s a nice guy, Kenny. Not everyone is you.”
    “I’m not that nice,” Kenny said helplessly, because he wasn’t. Inside, he was hoping Will never got another teaching job, because he thought Will should put all his talent somewhere else, and given Will had just told him he really loved the job, that wasn’t nice at all.
    “You’re awesome,” Will said sincerely. “Do you want to watch some TV?”
    Kenny let out an absurd little whimper. “Can, uhm… you wouldn’t mind if I snuggled, would you?”
    With a shrug, Will opened himself up on the couch. “Yeah. You won’t offend me. Knock yourself out.”
    Kenny grabbed the remote and started searching for the Syfy channel, and took up that extended arm. God. A het guy who liked to snuggle. He was totally wasted on women like whatserface, Kenny was sure of it.
    As he let his eyes glaze over and his head loll on Will’s shoulder, he was also sure that he had to do something really nice for this big guy who just seemed to want to make the world a better place.
    “Come over Wednesday,” he slurred. “We’ll spend more time on the graphic novel, less time drinking.”
    He heard an extremely masculine grunt. “That there’s a deal,” Will said, and Kenny decided it could be his best breakup ever.
     
     
    “S O THAT ’ S what you were doing when I saw you last May,” Cara said thoughtfully, and Kenny grimaced.
    “You must have seen Will then—because you and I didn’t meet until—”
    “Oh yeah.” Cara crinkled her freckled nose. “So, Will—why didn’t you tell him?”
    Will looked away. “Well, you know. I just barely knew myself. Besides—I mean, I may have sort of fallen for him at first sight,