i like you (say it back) ; egobang

20

The next day passes in a blur- Arin focuses the best he can on work to distract himself from the fact that Dan's coming back so soon so that the day doesn't drag on forever, though every time he thinks about it, he gets excited. God, he can't wait to see him.

Though he's a bit disappointed when Dan tells him that Rachel will be the one picking them up from the airport, but then he feels his heart flutter when Dan says that she's going to drop him off at Arin's so that he can spend the night there if it's alright, as well as see the younger man and Suzy, of course.

And even when Arin's tired and ready to lie down, he still finds himself unable to sleep, thinking of Dan. He eventually takes a little Nyquil to make himself so drowsy that he can't fight it anymore so that he can just pass out, Suzy fast asleep already beside him.

His alarm goes off around 1PM. He sits up with a groan and rubs his eyes, pushing his hair out of his face. He quickly heads to the shower and gets that out of the way, heading back to his bedroom to put on some clothes, but before he can get fully dressed, he gets distracted by his phone, wanting to know if Dan has texted yet to say the plane has landed.

He does find a text from Dan, one that the older man must've sent him in the early in the morning sometime after Arin had fallen asleep. It... almost could be considered a nude, except below the waist isn't visible. It's a sleepy mirror selfie- in it, Dan's clearly in some hotel bathroom, completely undressed, and he sent a text alongside it, saying, 'just woke up and am about to shower before I pack and head to the airport! Can't wait to see you!' and then there's a few hearts.

'Whoa,' Arin texts back, adding after, 'I just woke up so I only just got this. You look fucking amazing, dude, holy shit.'

Arin looks over at the full body mirror that's hanging on the wall by the closet, aiming the camera towards it to take a photo of himself to send to Dan. He's not naked, but his underwear doesn't leave much to the imagination.

'Not as good as yours of course, but you can have this,' Arin types out before attaching the photo and sending it. He sets his phone down to get dressed after that, feeling unsure about the picture. Arin's never been too fond of showing his own skin; it makes him feel self-conscious, but he did it anyway because it's for Dan (and perhaps for Suzy, too), and Arin guesses that Dan doesn't seem to think that he's ugly or fat, but he still can't help but to worry that perhaps deep down, Dan might secretly think those things after all and is just really good at lying or ignoring it.

Arin thinks that he should feel a little more confident now that he's lost some weight, but the truth is he still doesn't and he isn't sure why. For now though, he tries to forget that he even sent the photo so he's not worried about it and he heads downstairs.

Suzy is enjoying a cup of coffee and some cinnamon breakfast biscuits as she relaxes on the couch, playing some game on her Nintendo DS. She pauses it when she notices Arin, flashing him a smile as he comes toward her. He bends down and kisses her cheek before he turns back around to go into the kitchen area.

"You okay?" she asks, eyes following his every movement. He grabs an apple, a pack of crackers and a sparkling water from the fridge and sits down at the island so he can look at her.

He shrugs. "Yeah, I guess," he answers anyway, sounding more dejected than he'd meant to. He's supposed to be excited right now since Dan's coming back, but he just feels weird. "I don't know what's up with me today, and I've only just woken up."

Suzy gives him a look, like she knows better than that. "Is it about Danny?" she inquires, and it weirdly gives Arin deja vu; he feels like they've had this conversation before somehow, even though he knows that they didn't. "Is he not coming back today now or something?"