“Will, I’m calling in my favor,” Max plopped down on Will’s bed unceremoniously. Or, at least, he assumed it was the bed because other than the desk, it was the only other piece furniture in the room.

“What favor?” Will asked flatly, arching an eyebrow as he turned his attention away from his computer to Max. It wasn’t fair, really, Max decided. As identical twins, he should be able to do the cool eyebrow twitchy thing, too. Unfortunately, twenty-three years of experience and three hours in the bathroom practicing had pretty well proven that he would never be able to perfect his brother’s particular look of sardonic humor. “I don’t remember any favors.”

“Freshman Lit,” Max chirped happily. And why not? That was the first year that they’d been together after having been separated for six years. It had been fun trying to figure out how to be someone who looked exactly like him, but wasn’t.

“No,” Will wheeled his computer chair around, finally giving Max all of his attention. “That was an exception. I was failing.”

“Well, so am I.” Max retorted. “I need you to take my math final.”

“It’s remedial math.” Will looked perplexed. “How the hell are you failing it?”

“There are numbers. And symbols. Then they revolted and I gave up. C’mon, please?” Max was not above begging. Will had graduated last year, and the last thing Max wanted was to spend another year stuck at school with their father griping at him because he’d flunked a stupid math class. “It’s three lousy hours of your Friday afternoon. You have it off, I already checked.”

“No.” Will didn’t give an explanation, and Max frowned suspiciously as his brother flipped around to stare at his stupid computer screen again. Picking his way off the bed, and wading through the three weeks of laundry that Will had sitting on his bedroom floor, Max got up close enough to see the blush staining Will’s cheeks.

“Spill,” he poked Will’s red cheeks, getting his hand smacked away for his trouble.

“I have a date, okay?”

Will? The guy who had no social life?

“With who?” The incredulity must have been evident in his voice, because Will scowled at him in return.

“Dave.”

Max burst out in laughter. No one would blame him really, all things considered, he figured. Will shot him a disgusted glare, and that just made it all the funnier. “Dave? Sex-god-of-the-lifeless-accountants Dave? That Dave?”

“Yes, that Dave,” Will snapped back. “Christa set up the date. Turns out he swings that way.”

“Lucky you,” Max tried to keep a straight face. The few times he’d actually heard either Will or Christa describe this guy, loser was the only thing that ever came to mind. Then again, who really understood the inner workings of Will’s mind? Max didn’t speak geek.

“Which is why I’m not taking your math final.”

“Look, I know you’ve had this hard-on from afar for this guy for like ages, but c’mon. Can’t you just tell him something came up?” Usually, Max would have been jumping for joy over the fact that Will actually had a date with something that wasn’t electronic, but he couldn’t fail this class. He refused to take it again, the university refused to give him a degree without a passing grade, and their father and his new wife were going to have a small Holstein if it took him another year to finish up college.

“I can’t flake out. Christa barely managed to convince him to go out with me to begin with,” Will turned to look at him, his usual scowl plastered on his face.

And okay, so Max wasn’t even going to start pointing out what was wrong with that statement. “Easily solved. I’ll go on the date for you.”

“Right. So, let me get this straight, I take your boring final, and you get to go on my date.”

“With an accountant.” It wasn’t like Max was going to have a hell of a lot of fun. Chances were, his stupid math final was going to be more interesting. He didn’t care how flaming hot sexy Will thought this dope was, there was no way that Max was going to be anything but bored senseless for the whole date. “I took your stupid Lit final. In fact, I saved your ass on that sucker. And I smoothed things over with Dad that Christmas. You owe me.” Max hated pulling the guilt card, but there was no way he was taking this class a fifth time.

Will grumbled into his palms and Max sighed as he crouched down beside the desk. “Look, if I do this for you and you go on this date, you have to promise me some things.”

Max made a face. “Like what?”

“Like don’t sleep with Dave,” Will glared at him. Right, as if that was going to be a problem. Max rolled his eyes. “And you have to be nice, pretend to be interested, and don’t ruin it for me.” Blah, blah, blah. Yes, yes, Max understood. Some of his lack of concern over Will’s details must have shown on his face though, because Will scowled at him all over again. “I mean it, Max. I really like this guy. I really want it to work.”

“I won’t mess it up.” Max promised. Will look less than reassured. “I swear.”

“Just,” Will sighed, looking at him with pleading eyes, “don’t. Sleep. With. Him.”

“I don’t sleep with everybody.” He pushed Will off his chair and grinned with satisfaction when Will managed to knock over three piles of dirty laundry before landing on the floor with a muffled thump.

“Jerk,” Will grumbled.

Max laughed as Will climbed back up into his chair, a sock stuck in his hair and a pair of underwear hanging off his jeans. “I’ll be on my best behavior,” Max promised again, just for good measure.