Something beeped insistently nearby, and I opened my eyes to localize the sound. The sight made my whole body tense up in pure terror for a brief moment. An unfamiliar room. But then reality came back and I remembered that I hadn't slept in my own bed last night. I was in Ash's bed. In his apartment. And even if the initial fright had vanished, panic came trickling down my spine instead. Was this really what I wanted? Wasn't it better to go back to what I knew, to the life I could predict in minute detail? My chest constricted and I turned to my side.

Ash was there, he still had his eyes closed and was slowly moving as the alarm wasn't stopping. His brows furrowed discontented, and he grunted, suddenly opening his eyes and looking at me. His annoyed face turned into a heart-stopping smile and my panic melted away. He didn't look like he regretted inviting me here. He rested his chin in his hand.

"Sorry about the alarm," he said calmly and turned it off. "I have to get up this early, unfortunately. Good morning, by the way."

"Good morning," I shyly smiled back.

He got up and started rummaging through his closet until finally settling on a pair of gray jeans and a t-shirt with Japanese print. I sat on the edge of the bed and realized that I would have to go to work in the same clothes two days in a row. That had never happened to me before. Ever.

"You can sleep some more I you want, I can leave the key," Ash said and went for the kitchen.

But to be alone in someone else's apartment was too great a leap for me. My newly found bravery didn't really reach that far, so I went after Ash to the kitchen.

"It's not at problem," I said when Ash handed me a cup of coffee. "I'll just leave at the same time as you."

It felt weird standing in his kitchen drinking coffee. I had no idea what to do with myself, I usually had my coffee at my cubicle at work. Furthermore, I didn't know how to act when you had just spent the night in the same bed as another guy. Was it different than with a girl? Did you talk about different things? Or was it fine to just scratch my ass and act normal? I was at a loss. The daylight didn't make matters any better, it seemed to burn away the events from the night before, making them seem unreal. Had I really done all those things? With him?

When we were riding the elevator down to ground floor Ash gently placed a hand on my shoulder. He eyed me up and down and I had problems meeting his gaze again.

"Regretting coming with me?" he asked quietly.

But I didn't regret it. I just felt weird and out of place.

"No, I'm not," I said, trying to gather my blurred thoughts into words. "It's just that I haven't woken up in somebody else's bed before. It feels kinda weird. I don't know why, but it's like... Like the things we did yesterday was just a dream. Like it didn't really happen."

I felt my cheeks flush and cursed silently. Ash pressed the emergency stop button and the elevator came to a halt. He slowly caressed my cheek, his touch feeling cool against my heated skin.

"You really have control issues, don't you," he smiled and tilted my face up. "Does this feel real to you?"

His kiss was light and soft and made my heart flutter.

"Yeah..." I admitted and just like that I didn't want to go to work at all anymore.

"Well then," he said and started the elevator again. "I'll just have to remind you from time to time."

The way to work was quiet, quieter than Ash would have wanted, that I could tell. He tried to start a conversation, but I was having more and more trouble relaxing, the closer we got to the office building. When someone said hi behind me, I was so nervous I jumped out of my skin, before discovering that it was my sister. And then I wanted to die.

Fuck, what is she doing here?

Her eyes darted between me and Ash with curiosity plastered all over her face and my cheeks burned. Different explanations to why I was walking here with Ash flew through my head, but before I could formulate a good enough lie, Zoey and Ash had started talking to each other. I had missed the first part of their conversation and when I finally heard what they were saying I went stone cold.

"You have to come over for dinner after work tonight," Zoey said enthusiastically.

I desperately tried to perform some sort of telepathy, making Ash understand that he should say no, but he didn't seem to understand my frantic expression.

"Absolutely," he said in a chipper voice. "We didn't get the chance to talk at the bar the other day."

"Perfect!" my sister exclaimed. "See you this afternoon. And make sure my brother doesn't work overtime."

"Will do," Ash saluted, and Zoey continued down the road.

I groaned in disappointment and looked at Ash.

"You could have said no."

"Why? She seems awesome."

There was no point in arguing, she was awesome. And a total pain. I noticed that we were in front of the office and my nervousness bubbled up again.

"Can you... like, go in first?" I said, agony in my voice.

Ash rolled his eyes at me but agreed. He squeezed my hand quickly.

"You worry too much," he said and went through the front doors.

At my floor I sat down in my cubicle, feeling perplexed. There was no limit in what kind of new situations I had to endure right now, it seemed. I had never brought anyone to meet my sister. At most she had said hello to the odd girlfriend when I happened to run into her at a bar, but that was as far as interaction went. It could be that my girlfriends never stayed long enough, and my sister didn't want to waste any energy on getting to know someone that was gone the next week or so. Now she seemed prepared to waste all sorts of energy. And this wasn't even a girlfriend, it was... I had no idea what this was.

When the office started to fill up with people again, I decided to walk over to Chris. I needed to apologize for my tantrum yesterday. It was the right thing to do, he didn't deserve those words at all and even if I didn't call him a friend, he was the only one I knew at the office. If you didn't take Ash into account.

Chris took my apology in stride, he said he understood and that he was also in a foul mood when he was hung-over. He didn't even comment on the fact that I had the same outfit as yesterday and that surprised me. Maybe he had realized that even I had a limit when it came to hazing? That pleased me more than I wanted to admit and when I got back to my own space my mind was suddenly filled up with energy. I didn't understand where it came from, but I didn't question it, I just started working.

At lunch I went down with Chris without complaint and didn't give Ash a single thought until he was right next to me at the table and had placed a hand on my shoulder. I saw the surprise on Chris's face and my heart skipped a beat.

"Just wanted to know what time we should be leaving for Zoey?" Ash said. "So I can pack my stuff in time."

What was he doing? Sure, we hadn't said that we should act like we didn't know each other, but I was under the impression that it was implied. Apparently not. Now he was here and all I could do was try to answer him as calmly as possible, all the while my body was acutely aware of the weight of his hand on my shoulder.

"See you in the lobby at five," I said, trying to look casual.

"Great," Ash said and continued along the tables with his cart.

"You two are buddies?" Chris exclaimed and his eyes trailed Ash.

"He... is a friend of my sister Zoey," I replied, grabbing the first lie that popped up in my head.

"Oh, ok," he mumbled and nodded to himself.

I just sat there, trying to mentally carve that lie into my brain so I could remember it if he would ever ask again.

The energy I had in the morning was transformed into restless nervousness when the afternoon came. I was pacing around the lobby waiting for Ash and tried to persuade myself that everything was normal, this was what normal people did all the time, nothing weird at all. It wasn't going well. So, when Ash appeared I almost flung myself at him and asked if we could just forget about dinner. He gave me an incomprehensive look.

"She wants to meet us, so why should we cancel? It's not like we have any other plans, or do you?"

I did not. If you didn't count wanting to run and hide under the nearest rock. I shook my head in defeat. But I still wanted to warn Ash of my sister because I knew how she could be. She had a way of being relentless in her questioning and didn't budge until you caved in, and the fact that she already knew that Ash was the new co-worker didn't make things any easier. I tried my best to explain it to him on our way to her, but he just seemed to think that this was going to be fun. Going up the stairs to her apartment I pleaded one last time.

"At least promise me that we just tell her that we're colleagues, I don't want her to know every little bit about me."

He laughed.

"But we are colleagues," he said, amused.

"You know what I mean," I muttered.

"I get what you mean, don't worry," he smiled and rang the doorbell.

It was only when we were taking off our jackets in the hallway that I realized that he hadn't made a promise at all. And now it was too late. Dinner went surprisingly well despite my worries. Ash didn't mention anything about our relationship and he and Zoey were chatting away most of the night, they seemed to get along really well and I relaxed more and more. Zoey didn't press any questions either, like I had thought she would. Instead, we talked movies and books, no personal topics at all and that suited me just fine.

I felt his hand landing on my crotch when Zoey went to the kitchen with the dishes. My body stiffened and I stared discreetly but panicky at Ash, who was looking all neutral. But under the table he gripped my cock though the jeans, making me bite my lip not to moan.

"You'll make up for not believing I could behave, mark my words," he whispered low between his teeth, but his face showed nothing but friendliness. "Just wait until we get to my place..."

I blinked. Was he mad at me? But just seconds before Zoey returned from the kitchen, he pulled my hand under the table and pressed it between his legs. No. He was not mad at all. He was rock hard. And I had to gather all my self-preservation to act normal when Zoey came out to us again. Ash stretched out in a casual gesture and my cock was released.

"Wanna hit the road?" he said to me. "We have work tomorrow and we're going in the same direction anyway."

I just nodded; my mouth was still malfunctioning due to the episode that just happened. We got up and Zoey followed us out. Ash excused himself to go to the bathroom and I was left alone with my sister.

"Well?" he said imploringly. "Something is going on between you two, right? Is my sister-sense working?"

There was no point in lying to her anymore. Whatever I said to her she would see right through me, and she would become a total pain if I didn't give her at least part of the truth.

"I have no idea what's going on," I admitted. "But let me put it like this, I didn't sleep at my place last night."

I gave her a crooked smile and she put her hands over her mouth and made a delighted squeak.

"Really?" she hissed and grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "That is just fucking incredible!"

"Zoey, please... calm down," I tried to whisper and wiggled my way out of her arms.

Ash returned and Zoey looked at him in utter amazement.

"We have to do this again," she beamed at him.

"Yeah, it was fun," he replied. "Later then!"

Then he very tellingly took my hand with my sister watching and dragged me towards the stairs. I could see every single tooth in the grin my sister had when she shut the door.