"I'll warn you that a couple already put in an application for this place," the realtor said.

Nate sighed and looked around the apartment. It was a one-bedroom on the top floor of a house converted into four separate apartments, one of the few affordable places. An apartment complex went up on the edge of town a couple of years ago, but the rent was astronomical for those places.

This place was priced right and had been newly renovated. It came as no surprise that he hadn't been quick enough to get it, even though it had only been online for two days. His prospects for moving out of his parents' place looked bleaker and bleaker, even at the pay that companies in town offered. He'd put in a few applications and already heard back from two, which was promising.

His parents assured him he could stay with them as long as he liked, which did not make him feel much better.

"You think it's not worth putting in an application, then?" Nate asked.

The realtor shrugged. "Can't hurt. They might get denied or back out, so..."

That did not sound particularly promising. It seemed like Nate's best option was to try to keep his schedule as clear as possible, keep an eye on the listings, and jump on any the hour they posted. It had been three weeks since he started poking about online and asking around to find a place and he'd had exactly zero luck so far. The search, apparently, would take a more concentrated effort. And he refused to hire a realtor to help him find a place to rent.

Later that afternoon, Bailey made a face at his complaining and asked, "Why do you want to rent anyway, if you can just live at home for a while longer? Not like renting does your credit any good, and it's a waste of money if you don't have to."

"That's so practical," Nate grumbled. "Since when are you so practical about anything?"

Jared had given him the same advice. So had his parents. If everyone said it, that probably meant it was good advice, but Nate did not want to hear it. He wanted to move out of his parents' place and be on his own. Just because. Because it was weird to be there when Karlie was gone. And he just felt like he needed to.

Bailey rolled his eyes and finished rinsing off the last mug he'd been washing. He set it in the dish drainer, turned off the tap, and reached for a towel. "Take it from me, someone who rents. Save yourself the money."

"What's rent like out there?" Nate asked, suddenly thinking that maybe in the city there would be more housing, so prices might be lower and apartments easier to find. Plus, in the city, he might be able to find bigger construction companies working on bigger projects that pay more.

"You thinking of moving?" Bailey asked, eyes downcast as he neatly folded the towel.

Nate frowned. "Never really thought about it, I guess. I know a lot of people in our class were itching to move away, but...I just want to move out of my parents' place. That's all."

"Have you checked to see if anyone is looking for a roommate? Ah...speaking of that, I really need to list an ad. Not having a roommate for the spring fucked me. I've got to find one in the next couple of weeks." Bailey pulled out his phone and fiddled with it.

Nate's ever-helpful brain flashed a fantasy solution in front of his eyes of him being Bailey's roommate. He shook his head and frowned harder. He'd never even given thought to moving out of town until less than a minute ago. When he and Tessa broke up, it was because she wanted to explore her other options at college, and he was the boy back home. He'd never thought of himself as anything else.

Even in this situation with Bailey, he expected to get left behind again in the fall. But, he thought with growing dread and hope in equal measures, what if he didn't get left behind? What if he found a company to apprentice with close to Bailey's school?

"Are you going to have the same apartment in the fall?" he asked, hoping to god he sounded casual.

"Hmm?" Bailey did not look up from his phone, which meant he hadn't picked up on anything strange in Nate's voice. "Nah, they also raised the rent there. I'm going to have to live a little further from campus this year. Ah, I hate this shit. Maybe I should take a gap year and work for a while to save up again."

Nate's heart soared, then he batted it right back down into his ribcage. He should not be excited that Bailey might be around more because he needed to take time off from school, since he could not afford it. Those were not good things. Then again, every other time he and Bailey have talked about his schooling, Bailey always sounded resigned. Excited for some of his classes, maybe, but otherwise, he talked about it like a massive chore he was not looking forward to.

As if on cue, Bailey set his phone down and let out a groan. "But if I take a gap year, I'll probably never be able to bring myself to go back. Might as well finish while I've got the momentum."

Nate made a mental note to look into companies hiring welders near Bailey's school. They hadn't talked about what would happen this fall. Nate kept avoiding the subject like the plague, and Bailey seemed disinclined to bring it up. Maybe, if he lined up a couple of possible jobs and talked to a few apartment complexes, he could have everything worked out to ask Bailey if he might be his roommate. And also his boyfriend, while he was at it.

Because if he was being honest with himself, he wasn't just looking for an apartment to get out of his parents' house and be on his own. It was so that if he met someone neat at the bar, he could take them home to a space all his own. And lately, he'd been thinking more about having Bailey in a space he called his own, not a random person from the bar.

Not only had all the apartments been too pricey or unavailable or not up to his standard over the past month, but he'd also looked at each one and known that Bailey would only be there when he visited for holidays, if he were even still interested in Nate by then. That made him depressed and not want to look at apartments anymore.

Until Karlie started making fun of him for living at home again. Then he started looking at apartments some more.

But he needed to think all this over a little bit more before asking Bailey. It was a big deal. Taking another step in their relationship would be a big deal. Moving away would be a big deal. Living with Bailey would be a colossal deal. He did not want to bring it up until he was absolutely certain.

"Sorry to bring up a bunch of shit," Nate stood up from the couch and stretched. "It's just on my mind cause I went to look at an apartment before coming here. You still wanna play tonight?"

Bailey prowled around the counter, "Fuck yeah I do. Let me take your mind off it, Daddy."

Nate hummed and let himself be led back to the bedroom.

"It's gonna be like we talked about," he said to remind them both as he pulled Bailey's toys out from under the bed and laid what he needed on the edge of the mattress—the rope, a bullet vibrator, the dildo that had a suction cup on it. He stopped and looked at the dildo with the suction cup. "Actually, not exactly. Are you okay with us being in the bathroom? I need something to suction this to."

He mimed trying to get it to stick to the carpet to demonstrate how it wouldn't work. Bailey peered down from where he'd perched on the edge of the bed, then lifted a brow and shrugged. "Sure."

"Cool," Nate nodded and pulled out the last thing he needed—the blindfold.

Bailey trotted behind him to the bathroom, hands clasped behind his back, a small smile on his face that appeared every time he watched Nate set up a scene. Nate could see him out of the corner of his eye in the mirror, which was nice because when he instructed him to strip, he could watch him with his back turned as if he couldn't care less.

They hadn't begun yet, but Nate had found over the past couple of months that easing into the mindset was easier by doing little things like that. He's noticed Bailey doing it too, making himself a little smaller and quieter in the minutes before they began. The kind of behavior that would make Nate concerned in any other context, but here he knew that his going into his head was a good thing, so long as Nate was able to pull him back out at the end of it all.

The only thing about setting him up in the bathroom was that he'd be kneeling on the linoleum floor instead of the carpet for some time, but perhaps that added pain was an advantage.

"Alright." He stepped out of the way to let Bailey pass him. "Down on your knees, facing me."

As soon as Bailey was settled on his knees, Nate crouched down and began mechanically stroking his soft cock, just to get it hard. Bailey sucked in a breath, spine bowing a bit and thighs shifting.

This was not about his pleasure. It was about his desperation.

As usual, he was not allowed to orgasm without permission. Nate enjoyed seeing him flushed and moaning and desperate and wanted to stretch that out as long as he could—painfully long. Kneeling on the linoleum on sharply numb knees would only make it feel longer for Bailey. This would help Nate, as he wasn't sure who would last longer here. The goal was to make Bailey disobey so he could punish him, but he knew Bailey wouldn't make it easy.

Once Bailey was hard enough, he pressed the bullet vibe under the head of his cock and secured it in place with a couple of hair ties that Bailey had in his bag of toys. He flipped it on, ignored Bailey's little gasp, then grabbed the blindfold and put it over his head, making sure that it lay securely over his cheekbones and nose. Once he was satisfied, he picked up the rope and tilted his head, weighing his options.

With Bailey blindfolded, he didn't have to worry as much about his expression not being a hundred percent confident. He could let the calm, collected, controlled façade slip without breaking the immersion for him. As immersed as Nate got himself, he still sometimes had to fight not to slip out of his role. The blindfold gave him a little grace.

Being in the bathroom offered other options that he had not considered when he was planning everything out in the bedroom.

He studied the side of the tub behind Bailey's back and grinned. Unaware, Bailey continued to take steady, measured breaths. Without a word to guide or ground him, Nate spread his palm over Bailey's chest to guide it down to the floor. He laid his arms out straight at his sides, wrists pressed to his ankles. Originally, he was going to be kneeling up, but this was much better. Far meaner, which was what Nate was going for.