Happy Birthday To You~ (PointCrow x SmallAnt)

All It Takes Is A Date

Eric blinked a few times, sun rays hitting him right in the face. He turned his head away from the window that they had forgotten to draw the blinds closed, and towards the other side of the bed. However, he noticed he was alone, as he felt the spot next to him with his hand and it was empty.

He panicked momentarily, scared that it might all have been a dream, or that Tanner had just strung him along once again only to break his heart. That was until he heard the sound of a running shower in the distance. He was still here, he hadn't left him. Eric felt silly thinking that of his boyfriend. Were they boyfriends? They hadn't discussed it, but he hoped Tanner wanted this for them too.

Fuck, there he goes worrying again.

'Stop', he thought sternly to himself, to some avail but not enough to stop his anxious overthinking. Especially since the delicate situation from yesterday was unfortunately still fresh in his mind. And it was difficult to shake the hurt in such little time, even if they had made up afterwards again. But he also knew that he should trust, no, that he trusted Tanner. Because if he didn't, he would have wasted all the time it took for him to finally apologise.

Eric's phone vibrated softly on the bedside table, so he picked it up to find multiple unread messages.

From: AbbyBagel.

"Did you arrive well?

How did it go?

???

Are you okay???

Listen, I'm going to bed soon, so I'm going to assume you're staying with Tanner and didn't get kicked out and just slept on a park bench instead."

Eric facepalmed. He had completely forgotten to inform Abby about, well, anything yesterday, probably leaving her very concerned for him. So he quickly started writing a response to not let her worry any further.

"Omg, I'm sorry for not responding! Yes, I'm okay and I'm at Tanner's hotel room like you guessed", he answered, his phone buzzing again shortly after hitting send.

"Good to hear, you had me worried for you, you idiot", Abby responded quickly.

"I can handle myself, you know >:(" he noted snarkily with a smile, despite his friend being unable to physically see it.

"Come on, we both know you can't. That's why you have a manager", she typed back almost instantly, making a point to roast him.

Eric laughed heartily. "Alright, you got me there", he wrote first before starting to type another message. "And hey, thanks for worrying."

"It's part of my job to nanny you, after all", she replied before the three dots after her name started bouncing up and down again. "But yeah, anytime :)"

Eric put down his phone and finally pushed himself up in a more comfortable sitting position on the bed. He rubbed his eyes a few times, before hearing the bathroom door unlock and swing open. Tanner walked out fully dressed, which slightly disappointed Eric for a moment before he got out of his own head and went back to reality to greet his boyfriend.

"Good morning", he chirped with a still slightly sleepy grin on his face.

"Good morning", Tanner responded with a warm, affectionate smile. "Sleep well?"

"Very well", Eric responded truthfully. "It really might have been one of the most relaxed I've ever woken up."

'Aside from the mild panic that followed', he added in his head. But the other man didn't need to know that.

Tanner noticed that Eric had his phone in his hand. "Anything interesting happening in the world today?" he asked him while walking to the bed to come sit next to him.