The next Monday, Michael was awoken from his afternoon nap by a soft knock on his bedroom door. His door was locked for the specific reason to keep Joe out, so he first figured it was probably one of his brothers and rolled over in bed, prepared to continue his slumber. There was another knock then, this one slightly louder, and he heard Shelly's voice call softly through the door, "Michael?"

"One second!" He called back, sitting up in bed quickly, his blankets falling to his waist. It took him a second to blink the sleep from his eyes, but once he did he climbed out of bed, finding a zip up hoodie to quickly throw over his bare chest before opening his door. "Sorry. I was sleeping and I thought you were-"

"Joe, I know I know," Shelly said with a smile. She was a nice woman, in her early forties probably, and she had been around for Michael's entire life so she knew of Joe's tendency to come and bother him when he was resting. "Sorry to wake you. I just noticed you had a letter in the mail from your university and I wanted to make sure it got to you".

"Oh". Michael took the letter from her, eyebrows drawing together in confusion. "Thank you, but don't you usually give these to my father first?"

"Typically, yes," she agreed, turning her face to look down the hall in the direction of his father's office. "I just happened to notice that the letter was sent to you by your school's education department and thought it was best to deliver it directly to you". His eyes widened slightly and when she looked back at him she smiled. "I hear things, Mr. Bradford".

"Thank you," he said, this time with full sincerity. "I appreciate this. Really".

"No problem dear". She left his doorway, going down the hall to deliver the rest of the mail to his father. Gently, he closed his door and went to sit on the end of his bed. It wasn't hard to figure out what the letter contained.

His assignments for student teaching the next semester were due. It made him both nervous and excited, and he carefully ripped the envelop open to remove the folded paper. Please don't be Edgewood, he though as he opened the paper, his eyes skimming quickly through the letter to the bottom of the page.

It wasn't Edgewood, just a different high school in the city. He'd be working with French 2 students.

Relieved, Michael let out a sigh and dropped back down against his matress, but the anxiety only stayed abay for a little longer. Not being placed at Edgewood was good. It meant that he didn't have to worry about his father happening across his name in school paperwork before he got the chance to talk to him, but it still only allowed him to delay telling his father for a little longer. He had to tell him before it was time to buy textbooks.

Frustrated with himself for ruining the moment, Michael dropped his letter onto his bed before rising and leaving his room.

He ended up down stairs in the kitchen– he spent most of his afternoons there lately– where Ian was gathering ingredients on the counter, his back to Michael. "What are you making?"

Ian's shoulders jumped a little bit in surprise, but when he turned to look at him there was a smile on his face. "Hey. Um-" he cut off, staring at Michael for a long moment, eyes fixated lower than his face. "Uh, your mom requested chocolate chip cookies... are you wearing a shirt?"

"Oh". Michael dropped his chin to look down at himself and then raised a hand to zip his hoodie the rest of the way up. "No.  Should I put one on? I wasn't really thinking when I left my room".

Ian just held his gaze for a long moment before sighing wistfully and shaking his head. "It's your house. You can wear whatever you want".

"But I don't want to make you uncomfortable," Michael offered, and Ian's eyes dropped, almost glaring at his hoodie.

"Me being uncomfortable is not the issue here. Really," Ian assured before turning back to the counter and the gathered ingredients. "Do you want to help me?"

"Yes," Michael answered eagerly, moving further into the room now that he had permission– while it was his house, it was Ian's kitchen– to go wash his hands. "Please". As he washed his hands, Ian directed his attention to him again, this time seeming surprised.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm..." there seemed to be a lot of ways to end the sentence, so he chose the word that summed them all up the best. "Stressed". He turned off the faucet and then dried his hand on the hanging dish rag. "I finally got my assignments for student teaching".

"Oh yeah?" Ian asked, sounding excited for him. It made Michael feel good as well, closest to how he had felt when he first opened the letter, and he offered the man a shaky smile in return. "What grades will you be teaching?"

"I'm in a high school," Michael answered softly, looking away from Ian's eyes to the counter, looking over the ingredients since he had absolutely no idea what went into cookies other than sugar and chocolate chips. "French two". This made Ian laugh for some reason. "What?"

"I'm just thinking about how many high school girls are going to hit on you," he answered, his fist connecting lightly with Michael's arm. "That's great, Michael. Why don't you look at all excited?"

"I am," Michael assured. "Of course I am. It's just... I'm going to need to talk to my father about it soon, and I don't forsee him being too happy about it". There was a pause then in which Michael felt Ian's gaze linger on the side of his face, but then Ian grabbed the bag of flower from the counter and pressed it into Michael's chest.

"Open this, will ya?"

Smiling because Ian obviously understood that he needed to be distracted, Michael took the bag from him.

***

When Michael's phone began to ring, he was wrists deep in cookie dough, thoroughly mixing it with his hands. "Um," he voiced, looking from his hands, to down at his sweatpants, and then finally up at Ian. "Could you..."

With an exacerbated sigh Michael knew was just to tease him, Ian moved towards him and reached his hand into the pocket of his sweatpants. Ian kept his eyes down, probably watching to assure he didn't accidently grope him– not that Michael would have minded– but Michael couldn't stop staring at him, his cheeks warming at the close proximity. From this distance, he could see that Ian's eyelashes were a lighter brown than he had always thought, and that he had a very light freckle beneath his left eye.

"It's Daisy," Ian said, having taken the cell phone from his pocket while Michael was distracted. When Michael didn't respond, Ian finally looked up at him, his expression showing surprise when he found Michael just staring at him. The phone rang between them loudly for a long minute as they just looked at one another, and then Ian answered it without breaking eye contact, gently pressing the device against the side of Michael's face.

"Hello?" He greeted, his voice coming out deeper than he was expecting it to.

"It took you forever to answer," Daisy accused and Michael blinked slowly, still studying the brown of Ian's eyes.

"Yeah, about that. I'm kind of busy," Michael told her, and Ian shook his head a little bit.

"I'm not going to kiss you if that's what you're thinking," he whispered, since he was close enough to the phone that his regular speaking voice would have easily been picked up by the girl on the other line. Shrugging, Michel just lifted his hands out of the bowl and wiggled his fingers as if to say still busy.

"Oooooo, doing what?" She asked.

"Making cookies. Ian's actually holding the phone to my face, so if you could make this short-"

"Just have him put me on speaker, weirdo".

Michael frowned. "You won't say anything bad?" He asked nervously and Daisy chuckled.

"Of course not".

While he didn't necessarily believe her, he didn't want Ian to have to hold the phone for him any longer. "Hey, could you put it on speaker please?"

Ian nodded and pulled his hand back, finally breaking eye contact with him to do as he asked. He placed the phone on the counter then and grabbed the bag of chocolate chips, pulling it open and pouring half of it into the bowl Michael had been mixing the contents in moments before. Without having to be told to, Michael stuck his hands back into the mixture.

"So," Daisy began. "What kind of cookies are you making?"

"Chocolate chip," Michael answered.

"Ohhhh, yum. Ian, you're not letting him do everything, right?"

"No," Ian agreed, smiling a little down at the phone as if she could see him.

"Daisy, what do you want?" Michael demanded, getting somewhat impatient now that Ian was no longer looking at him.

"I'm just bored and wanted to talk to someone".

"Josh isn't home?" Michael asked and Daisy made a sad noise.

"No," she answered. "Besides, I wouldn't want to spend time with him anyways. Ever since you stopped fucking him he's been in an awful mood".

This probably qualified as Daisy saying something bad, but the face Ian made in response to this made Michael feel confident enough to tease. "It's called withdrawl. Many have experienced this". Ian rolled his eyes, but wasn't able to hide his amusement.

"Yeah, too fucking many you pervert," Daisy accused easily and Michael scoffed, quickly going from cocky to annoyed and glaring at his cell phone. This was enough to make Ian chuckle, looking between the phone and Michael, waiting to hear what he had to say.

"Hey! You're not allowed to judge me," he said to the phone as he removed his fingers from the now mixed cookie dough.

Daisy scoffed. "I don't think it's possible for me to not judge you at this point. I mean, after you told me what you did to that kid with the tongue ring-"

"Could you hang up on her please-" Michael interrupted somewhat frantically, his voice loud. Ian's eyes were very wide.

"No! No no no! I'm sorry! I'll stop!"

"Daisy-"

"Are your brothers home?" She asked, distracting him from scolding her. Suspicious, his eyes narrowed.

"Why?"

At the same time, Ian answered. "No, they're not".

"Can I come over?" At least she was asking this time.

"What?" Michael made a face. "No You don't behave yourself".

"But I will!" Daisy said– lied– and Michael scoffed. "I promise! I just want to taste test the cookies. You need someone to do that".

"We can do that," Michael pointed out and Ian made a humming noise he took as agreement.

"Michael... please. I am so bored". He thought about Daisy at the restaurant on friday, sitting across the table from Daniel's girlfriend. She had been off the last couple of days and Michael suspect that was the reason. With a sigh, he turned his face towards Ian, who just shrugged his shoulders, indicating he didn't care either way.

"Ugh, fine," he groaned, going over to the sink to wash his hands.

"Really! Okay, I'll be over as fast as possible". The line dropped then and the kitchen was quiet as Michael washed his hands. When he finished and turned back to Ian, he found the man just looking at him with an expression he found difficult to read.

"What?"

"So what'd you do?" Ian asked and Michael furrowed his eyebrows.

"Huh?"

"To the kid with the tongue ring."

***

"This is unfair," Michael accused as he rolled a ball of cookie dough between his palms. On the other side of the counter, Ian and Daisy were both sitting, eating out of the bowl of dough as he worked. "When you asked me if I wanted to help, this isn't what I thought you meant". Ian chuckled and shook his head.

"I'm just trying to show you how hard it is to get things done with someone sitting here pestering you all day," Ian teased, and Michael rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to stop visiting you if you have that kind of attitude".

"Shut up and keep rolling!" Daisy demanded. "I came here to watch you work so you're gonna work!" She looked at him for a long minute then. "Take your jacket off".

"What?" Michael asked, raising his fingers to touch the zipper between his collarbones. "I'm not wearing a shirt. Isn't that unsanitary? I'm making food".

"We've been reaching into that bowl of cookie dough this whole time without washing our hands first," Daisy pointed out, and Ian, who was about to do just that, paused and frowned, probably realizing that he would need to make a new batch of cookies. "I don't care about sanitary. Give us something to look at".

"Fuck you," Michael grumbled.

"Ian, what do you think?" Daisy inquired, shoving more cookie dough into her mouth and Ian hummed thoughtfully, his eyes roaming Michael's body in a greedy way he typically didn't indulge. Michael's toes curled.

"I think... this would be marginally more enjoyable if he was wearing less clothes," Ian agreed when he finally spoke, meeting Michael's eyes, making his heart stutter.

I am so fucking whiped.

He was so distracted by this fact that he didn't even realize that Daisy had rounded the counter to undress him until the zipper was halfway down his chest. "Hey!" he exclaimed, grabbing her wrists. "Stop. What are you doing?"

"What are you doing?" a voice Michael immediately recognized as Daniel's said from the doorway between the living room and dining room. While Daisy froze, Ian sprung into action, sliding off of his stool and joining Michael and Daisy on the other side of the counter, going straight to the sink to wash his hands.

"Uh, what does it look like we're doing?" Daisy said once she had recovered from the shock of seeing her ex-boyfriend, abandoning her task and returning to her seat in front of the sheet pan Michael was placing the rolled cookie dough on. As Michael began to roll more cookie dough, immediately replacing the ball Daisy just ate, Ian came to his side to join him in his labor, standing close enough that their arms were pressed together.

"It looks like you're trying to take my brother's clothes off," Daniel accused, eyes on Michael. "And succeeding". He took a few steps forward, leaving the doorway to make his way towards the counter where Daisy sat.

"That is maybe what's happening," Daisy agreed, licking her fingers clean. Daniel came to a stop in front of the stool Ian had just been occupying, looking over the counter before raising his gaze to Michael's chest.

"Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

"I was taking a nap and just threw something on," he answered quickly, and Ian made a small scoffing noise. "What?"

"I do not believe that at all," he claimed, placing a perfectly circular ball of cookie dough in the last available spot on the sheet before carrying it to the oven.

Michael turned to watch him go, lips slightly parted. "Are you accusing me of lying?"

"Yes," Ian responded without pause. Behind him, Daisy snickered.

"On what grounds?" Michael retorted and Ian waited to respond until the cookies were in the oven and the timer was set.

"On the grounds that you're constantly trying to entice me," Ian accused calmly, seeming completely at ease despite Daniel's presence and Michael felt his jaw drop open in surprise. As Daisy began to laugh, Michael's eyes flickered off to the side to look at his brother, who finally seemed to have caught on.

"Oh?" Daniel voiced, taking a seat at the counter besides Daisy. "Well, is it working?"

The question seemed to be directed at Ian, even though Daniel's eyes still hadn't left his brother, and Michael glanced at the older man out of the corner of his eye as he awaited an answer. "Well, it would be if he just-" Ian cut off and reached over to finish unzipping Michael's sweater, fingers cold on the skin of his stomach for half a second. He sighed then, as if it was a great relief to finally see the other man's skin.

"That's it?" Michael asked, forcing his expression to be blank. "All I had to do was take my clothes off around you?"

Ian laughed at this and shook his head, but he didn't answer, only continued to roll cookie dough, his cheeks slightly flushed. Nervously, Michael glanced at his brother to catch his reaction to this new information, but his Daniel's attention had already moved to Daisy, who was pointedly staring down at the counter.

Him and Ian shared a quick glance at the awkward silence that stretched out, and then Ian just shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head in the direction of the bowl. "You can eat some of that if you want. I'm going to have to make more anyways".

"I probably shouldn't," Michael said after a moment of thought, speaking softly to not disturb whatever uncomfortable but necessary thing was happening on the other side of the counter. "I've kinda slacked off on working out for the past couple of months, and with you working here I tend to eat a lot more- Not that I'm blaming you or anything for that! It's just, your food tastes so good and I lack self control. I should probably begin to exhibit some before it's too late".

"So, Uh, Daisy... how've you been?" Daniel asked, and Michael shot them a surprise glace before looking back at Ian, who was just staring at his naked torso.

"You know, I really think you're fine, but I'm not going to judge you for deciding to make a healthy choice. Maybe I should start making things with less carbs, huh? You guys just really love pasta and bread but there are things I know how to make that are better for you".

"I want you to make what you enjoy making," Michael insisted, trying his best to tune out Daisy and Daniel's hesitant conversation to both give them privacy and focus on the man in front of him.

"God," Ian breathed, scraping the final bit of cookie dough from the bottom of the bowl and rolling it into the tiniest ball. The kitchen was starting to smell like cookies. "You're hot and considerate. What don't you have?"

"Don't let him fool you," Daisy cut in, and Ian lifted his head quickly, eyes wide. The girl's cheeks were very red, but there was a smirk on her lips. "He's certainly not a saint. He's willing to do some filthy things".

"Well I'd hope so," Ian responded easily, managing to wink at Michael just before he squeezed his eyes shut and groaned loudly, pressing his hips against the counter to hide his immediate erection.

"Is this fun for you or something?" He asked, listening to the beep of the stove and then Ian's foot falls as he went to get the first batch of cookies and put in the second.

"How could this not be fun for me?" He responded after a pause.

"It's certainly fun for me," Daisy claimed.

"And me a little bit," Daniel added, and Michael cracked his eyes open slightly to look at the two of them. They were sitting close enough together that their arms were brushing, and both of their faces looked warm because of it. Michael's eyebrows raised a little, but before he could even think of what to say about this, Ian spoke again.

"De plus, je pensais que ça t'aiderais à te changer les idées. J'avais tort?" (Besides, I thought it would help take your mind off stuff. Was I wrong?)

This surprised Michael, and he turned around fully to look at the man standing in front of the sink, poking at the warm center of a cookie to make sure it was done. "Oh," he voiced. "Yeah. You did. Jamais personne auparavant n'avait flirté avec moi pour être prévenant". (Never had someone flirt with me before to be considerate).

"Both of you just got a lot more attractive to me," Daisy interrupted, and Michael scoffed and turned once more.

"Because of the French?" Daniel asked her, looking skeptical. When she nodded, she turned her head slightly towards him to look at his face. "I didn't know that about you".

This made her laugh. "It's not just me. It's a thing".

"A thing?" Daniel repeated.

"Sure. Like how men find girls' volleyball hot or how girls like guys who can sing or cook". Daisy's eyes moved back to Ian then. "You're really the full package man".

"Can't sing though," Ian admitted, returning to Michael's side.

"Girls like guys who can sing?" Daniel asked, sounding completely perplexed now. "Why?"

"Because talent is sexy," Ian offered, and Daniel looked at him with wide eyes before transferring his attention to Michael.

"Oh my god. I can't do anything," he exclaimed, horrified, and Michael and Daisy both dissolved into a fit of laughter. "It's not funny! I'm completely unsexy".

"That's so not true," Daisy reassured without thinking, and both her's and Daniel's eyes went wide. Beside Michael, Ian snickered.

"Yeah," Michael cut in quickly, hoping to keep the conversation from getting awkward again. "You're good at video games. You can throw a punch better than Joe and I. Out of the three of us, you're the best at talking to girls".

"You're the best at talking to girls," Daniel corrected. "Just because you're not interested in them doesn't mean you're not good at it. You've always had girl aquatineces. They just like you... And really, coming before Joe in that category isn't really a compliment".

"Joe's not good at talking to girls?" Daisy asked, curious.

"It's one of the most painful things I've ever watched in my life," Michael admitted. "He just wants to have sex with them so badly that he comes off as completly desperate and pushy".

"You're the confident one," Daisy offered in a slightly wavering voice, and Daniel's neck practically snapped to look at her.

"Confidence is sexy?" He asked, and she nodded slowly. The smile on his face was content, and it reminded Michael of the boy Daniel had been four years before, when Daisy had been an everyday part of his life. "Can I ask you something? You don't have to answer if you don't want... I'm just curious".

For the first time since Daniel had sat down– at least as far as Michael had noticed– Daisy turned to look at him fully, her eyes wide. "Um, sure". Daniel didn't meet her eyes, only stared down at the counter in front of him, and Michael and Ian shared another curious glance.

When Daniel spoke, his voice was incredibly small. "Why did you date me?" he asked, and a way so vulnerable that dismissed Michael's brief thought if he was just fishing for compliments as he had been the minute before. "I've always wondered that. Why me? I always thought you'd probably have been happier with Michael since he's the reliable one and is much easier to get along with, and then when we broke up I thought about it more and realized that when I really looked at who I was I was disappointed. I guess I'm just curious about what you saw in me back then".

Daisy looked shocked, her lips opening and closing a few times before she shut them tightly and took a moment to compose herself. "Daniel... you weren't a bad person. I've never thought that, even when I broke up with you. I just realized that it wasn't the right time for us. Everything seemed like it started going wrong over the course of three weeks and I believed there was a reason for that. I thought that we both had a little more growing to do before we could manage to have an adult relationship, and that grown wasn't something we could do together". As he listened, Daniel had his eyes shut, his expression incredibly open and sad, while also relaxed. Daisy looked at him a little longer before raising her eyes to Michael, seeming worried.

Silently, he shook his head as a way to calm her fears. You didn't do anything wrong.

"We had a lot of fun, remember?" Daisy continued, and Daniel's eyes cracked open slightly, surprised. "That's why I dated you. Because we could always just... be together and forget about everything and everyone else and just enjoy life".

When Dan turned his face back towards her, his expression was still very open, only now he was looking at her like he still loved her. Slowly, Daisy's mouth curled up into a little smile, and Michael's throat felt incredibly tight.

"Do you remember when we went to see a movie that one time and you bought me one of those large buckets of popcorn because I made this big deal about it, and then not three minutes later some lady grabbed it from me and threw it all over the damn place so her kid could throw up in the bucket?"

The story, which even Michael remembered, caused Daniel to laugh, actually laugh, full out and loudly, and Michael was startled at the sound, and the realization that he hadn't heard it in so long. It was a sound that had been present in his life for the first sixteen years, but had left when Daisy did. Even Ian looked startled, and one of his hands absently reached out to grab onto Michael's sweatshirt.

"I do remember that," Daniel confirmed, still grinning. "I remember exactly what your face looked like at the time too. And they made me clean it up, and if I recall correctly, you weren't much help".

The tension between them seemed to be broken then, and they spent the remainder of the afternoon talking and laughing, so wrapped up in one another it was almost like Michael and Ian weren't even there.

Michael didn't mind. It made it so much easier to slip his fingers through the gaps in Ian and pull him a few inches closer without being caught.

***

Michael and Daniel didn't get the chance to talk until much later. After Daisy had left Joe had returned and Daniel had retreated to the theater with him to play video games while Michael had continued to keep Ian company. When the bumped into one another, just by chance right before bed, they just paused, Daniel standing in the doorway of the bathroom with a towel tucked under his arm, and Michael's arm still outstretched for the door knob that had been pulled out of his reached when the man inside went to exit.

"So," Daniel began after the surprise of seeing each other on opposite sides of the door had cleared. "It's Ian then? The one you're interested in?" Michael didn't answer, only slid his eyes off to the side slightly. "I was wondering if it was him for a while, you know".

"It's that obvious, huh?" Michael asked nervously and Daniel made a soft humming noise. "Do you think-"

"No," Daniel cut in immediately, shutting down the thought. "I didn't start noticing until I knew you were gay. Joe probably isn't even considering the fact that it's a possibility". Sighing in relief, Michael dropped his head. "So... then what exactly is going on with you two?"

"I don't know," Michael admitted softly, conscious of the fact that Joe and Kalen were both in their rooms down the hall. He lifted his head just enough to meet Daniel's eyes. "It's not a big deal or anything... he's not ready for it to go anywhere right now and I... I said that I didn't want anything until I had talked to you and Joe. Besides, I'm not really sure that he thinks that it will go anywhere ever, so right now we just-"

"Eye fuck?" Daniel interrupted with a smirk. "Constantly?"

"What about you and Daisy then," Michael retorted. The way Daniel's smile faded and his face turned away made Michael wonder if he should have been more careful bringing it up. "Dan... I saw you looking at her throughout dinner on Friday, and your eyes barley left her today. What's that about?"

"Shit man," he groaned, raising a hand to push his dark wet hair off of his forehead. "I don't know. I mean... I have a girlfriend but... but I don't know".

There were so many things right then that made Daniel easy for Michael to read, but the main thing was the look in his eyes. "Daniel," Michael encourages softly.

A moment of resistance, and then, "you heard her. She said that we broke up because we both needed time to grow before we could work, but what if I still haven't grown enough. It feels like I could never grow enough to be worthy of her".

So many thoughts were going through Michael's head.

You love her. Still.

This isn't fair to your girlfriend.

You need to make up your mind because you're not allowed to hurt her.

And more. So many more, but he didn't say any of them, because he knew Daniel well enough that he had thought all of them himself and would continue to agonize over them for as long as it took to sort everything out.

"We're a mess, huh?" Michael suggested instead, and Daniel allowed a breathy chuckle and a nod of his head.

"Yeah. But when has these kinds of situations ever been easy for a Bradford".

"When has love ever been easy for anyone?"

It was only when he was under the spray of the shower five minutes later when he realized he had used the word love.