“I know!” Elio said but his soul recoiled at the thought of leaving. Not because of P versus NP or his parents, though. He worried about how safe Milo would be at Starlight if he went back to England and how much Elio would miss him. “What about my work?”
“Say that again but listen to yourself this time,” Matteo said tightly. “And rememberwhowe’re talking about.”
Elio fell back, leaning against the wall, his mind racing and struggling to calculate what mattered most and what couldn’t be sacrificed. “What if I can’t be a competent scientistanda decent…boyfriend or whatever? I’d blow up everything—the project, our friendship, our families’ relationships, possibly our careers…”
“You didn’t think about that before you got involved with Milo?”
“Ineverimagined we’d be anything more than professional partners. Why would I expect there to be more?” Elio asked and Matteo’s mouth opened and snapped shut and his eyelids fluttered.
“You really do live in your own world. How did you miss that you’re both young and hot and you speak the same nerd language? Why wouldn’t you be attracted to each other? It’s basic biology, Eli.”
Elio let out a suffering moan as he fidgeted with the barbell in the bridge of his nose. “Bloody biology and hormones, I hate them!”
“Sorry, you’re just a human like the rest of us,” Matteo said with a satisfied grin. “I’m relieved and Theo and Leo will be too. We’ve been throwing around ideas in the group chat and we were beginning to suspect that you might be an alien.”
“You have a group chat?”
Matteo shrugged. “Group chat/support group, call it what you like. It’s a time saver and we keep each other up to date on your bullshit, but it helps to know I’m not the only one who’s thought of killing you.”
“You’re the only one who has a chance of getting away with it,” Elio said and clapped his brother on the shoulder proudly. “Everyone always underestimates you.”
“Na, klar!” Matteo laughed. “That’s by design, but think of all you have to lose if you blow this with Milo. You will neverrun out of problems to solve. The universe is full of them. How many people exist who truly understand you, accept you, andlike you?” He held up three fingers. “And that’s counting me. You can figure out how statistically rare that is but Milo makesfourout of 8.2 billion people, Eli. That’s bloody special.”
“It is,” Elio conceded. “The odds of ever finding that sort of connection again are about as minuscule as solving time. The only difference is Milo’s already here.”
“Solving time?” Matteo snorted. “You physicists find the weirdest things to worry about.”
He had no idea. Or just how much Elio worried about time and why. His brothers would have him committed if they knew he was trying to bring their parents back. But Milo had understood and had agreed to help, despite the incredible odds and the risks to their reputations.
“It might be too late with Milo and I don’t know what I want,” Elio admitted.
“That’s fine. Milo might come to his senses and realize he made a mistake,” Matteo countered and Elio nodded.
“That is also a possibility…and could be the best scenario.”
“Stop!” Matteo gave Elio’s ear a flick, making him swear. “Nothinghappens until you work things out with Milo, one way or another. Be friends or ask him out, but don’t break his heart or leave him hanging.”
“Oida!” Elio dodged and swatted. “I will talk to him when I see him tomorrow.”
“You could talk to him now! Milo’s just two floors away,” Matteo suggested as he grabbed Elio’s sleeve and guided him to the door. “Do you want him to have a terrible night because of this?”
Elio recalled Milo’s shattered expression as the elevator doors closed and hung his head in shame. “No, I do not.”
“Scheiße! It’s a good thing I was here,” Matteo said under his breath as he opened the door and pushed Elio into the hallway. “Go fix things with Milo. And get tested tomorrow!”
The door slammed shut, making Elio jump. “Don’t call Theo.”
“Too late,” Matteo answered and the lock clicked.
“Go to New York and stay with Teo and Truman!” Elio whispered angrily as he stalked to the elevator and gave the call button a hard poke. “This is what I get for listening to them.”
He used the time in the elevator to center himself, aware that he was disrupting the Ashbys’ evening and that his appearance was intimidating enough. Scowling and swearing would just make things worse and it wasn’t the Ashbys’ fault his brother was a meddling twat.
“Benice,” he whispered and tapped politely on their door.
It opened a few moments later and Elio let out a strangled “Fuck!” He would never admit it, but Matteo was right: Elio had been too distracted by matters at Starlight and blindly focused on solving time. Making small talk or being charming was beneath Elio and he had missed what was right in front of his face. Giles Ashby was stunningly handsome and Elio was desperately attracted to his son.
He was beginning to notice a pattern…
